| Introduced | 7 November 1990 |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
| Status | Active |
| Registry | ZA Central Registry [ needs update ] |
| Sponsor | ZADNA |
| Intended use | Entities connected with South Africa |
| Actual use | Popular in South Africa |
| Registration restrictions | None in .co.za; various restrictions in other subdomains |
| Structure | Registrations are only taken at third level beneath various second-level labels |
| Documents | Articles of Association of ZADNA |
| Dispute policies | Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Additional information |
| Registry website | registry |
.za is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for South Africa. The .za namespace is managed and regulated by the .za Domain Name Authority (ZADNA). [1] Most domains are registered under the second-level domain .co.za. [2]
ZA is an abbreviation of the Dutch name for the country of South Africa: Zuid-Afrika.
None of the official names for South Africa can be abbreviated to ZA, which is an abbreviation of the Dutch Zuid-Afrika. Dutch was considered an official language in the Union of South Africa until 1961; it subsequently lost its synonymous status with Afrikaans in 1983. Suid-Afrika is the standard spelling in Afrikaans, but the .sa domain is used by Saudi Arabia. Zuid-Afrika has a history of usage: the international vehicle code for South Africa has been "ZA" since 1936. ZAR serves as the ISO 4217 currency code for the South African rand. South African aircraft registration prefixes also start with Z.
.ZA has a Second Level Domain (SLD) Structure. [3]
ZADNA removed a number of domains from the .za zone on 7 August 2009: [5]
Currently[ when? ] around 29.39% of the .za internet is served via secured HTTPS protocol, with the Let's Encrypt Authority X3 being the most popular SSL certificate. [6] Apache is the most popular web server, serving 66.56% of the .za domains, followed by Microsoft-IIS serving 11.60% of the total .za domains. [6] The most common 1st character in domain names is "c", with 10.76% of .za domains starting with this character. [6]
Za or ZA may refer to:
.us is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United States. It was established in February 1985. Registrants of .us domains must be U.S. citizens, residents, or organizations – or foreign entities with a presence in the United States or any territory of the United States. Most registrants in the U.S. have registered for .com, .net, .org and other gTLDs, instead of .us, which has primarily been used by state and local governments, even though private entities may also register .us domains. The domain is managed by Registry Services, LLC, a domain name registry, on behalf of the United States Department of Commerce.
.uk is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United Kingdom. It was first registered in July 1985, seven months after the original generic top-level domains such as .com and the first country code after .us.
A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs.
.ba is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is administered by the University Teleinformation Center.
.sa is the Latin alphabet Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of Saudi Arabia. Domains of this type can be registered through SaudiNIC, a department of the Communications and Information Technology Commission. The Arabic alphabet ccTLD of Saudi Arabia is السعودية.
.iq is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Iraq.
.zm is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Zambia. Registrants of .zm domains must "have a presence in Zambia".
.ug is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Uganda.
.gi is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory. It was created on 5 December 1995.

.ng is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Nigeria. It is overseen by the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA).

.st is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for São Tomé and Príncipe. The code is marketed worldwide as an abbreviation for various entities.
In the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy, a second-level domain is a domain that is directly below a top-level domain (TLD). For example, in example.com, example is the second-level domain of the .com TLD.
Nedbank Group is a financial services group in South Africa offering wholesale and retail banking services as well as insurance, asset management, and wealth management. Nedbank Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nedbank Group.
ISO 3166-2:ZA is the entry for South Africa in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.
Postage stamps were issued in the South African-administered colony of South West Africa from 1914 to 1989.
.ss is the designated country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for South Sudan in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is derived from the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for South Sudan, which is SS. According to CIO East Africa, the TLD was allocated on 10 August 2011 following the country's declaration of independence from Sudan. The TLD was registered on 31 August 2011, but not added to the DNS root zone and was thus not operational. It was approved at the ICANN Board meeting on 27 January 2019 and was added to the DNS root zone on 2 February 2019.

The ZA Central Registry (ZACR), formerly known as UniForum SA, is a non-profit organisation established in 1988 and operates various second-level domains (SLD's) in South Africa. The ZA Central Registry is the administrator of the South African zones such as "co.za" and "web.za". Their offices are based in Midrand, South Africa.
Nondumiso Mzizana is a South African dentist and businesswoman. A member of the Leadership Board of the Gordon Institute of Business Science at the University of Pretoria, Mzizana is a board member at the Northern Cape Economic Development, Trade and Investment Promotion Agency and at ZADNA, the ZA Domain Name Authority that regulates, manages and administers South Africa's Internet top level domain. The CEO of Sikelela Medical and Dental Supplies, she was the recipient of Businesswomen's Association of South Africa's Businesswoman of the Year for 2011, and was nominated as the most influential woman business leader in South Africa by African Business News.
.ZADNA is a not-for-profit company and statutory regulator and manager of .za, the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for South Africa. It is an agency of South African government under the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies.