New registrar for .za name space
31/08/2001

Namespace South Africa, a Section 21 company will be facilitating the efficient organisation of the
.za name space. It is an association not for gain and has as one of its main objectives to approve
and co-ordinate registrars and registries across the .za name space. This initiative was taken by the
Internet Society of South Africa (ISOC-ZA) in an attempt to find the most practical and efficient way
of overseeing local domain names.

The new company will take over the administration of the .za name space from Mike Lawrie, who has
been overseeing the administration since 1994. He has now been elected to the Board of Directors
of Namespace.

Membership is automatic and free to all individuals or companies with one or more registered
domains in the .za name space. Other interested parties can join at a fee determined by the Board
of Directors and approved by the members, which at the moment, is R20. The Board of Directors
consists of a maximum of nine members of which six have been elected by members of Namespace
and one has been appointed each by ISOC-ZA and the Registrars. The South African government
may appoint a director. One of the aims of the company will be to keep the price of registration
affordable and available to everyone. The Directors are to see that the company is legally
established and eventually negotiate with ICANN to give it administrative powers.

A great advantage of the new body is that it will enhance competition in the registration of the .za
domains. A detailed "Policies and Procedures" document sets out the manner in which the company
should administer the .za name space to ensure a fair and equitable management system.

Namespace SA should be legally established by October 2001.