What is .za?
Why .za? The letters come from Zuid-Afrika, the Dutch name for South Africa.
A little context on South Africa: the capital is Pretoria, Bloemfontein and Cape Town, languages include Afrikaans, English and Southern Ndebele, the currency is the South African rand (ZAR) and the international dialing code is +27.
South Africa shares land borders with 6 countries, so the ccTLDs next door are .bw (Botswana), .ls (Lesotho), .mz (Mozambique), .na (Namibia), .sz (Eswatini) and .zw (Zimbabwe).
IANA lists ZA Domain Name Authority as the manager of .za, with an address in South Africa. The registry's website is http://www.zadna.org.za. ccTLD managers set their own policies — who can register, which second-level names exist, pricing to registrars — so those rules differ from country to country.
On the technical side, .za is served by 3 authoritative name servers, 2 of them reachable over IPv6. It is also DNSSEC-signed: the root zone carries a DS record for .za, which lets validating resolvers check its answers cryptographically.
.za FAQ
What country is .za?
.za is the country-code top-level domain for South Africa, in Southern Africa.
What is South Africa's domain extension?
South Africa's website extension is .za, its country-code top-level domain. The code comes from Zuid-Afrika, the Dutch name for South Africa.
Who owns the .za domain?
IANA lists ZA Domain Name Authority as the manager of .za: it runs the registry and sets the rules for South Africa's ccTLD. Individual .za names belong to whoever registers them.
Can I register a .za domain from the US?
It depends on ZA Domain Name Authority's policy. Some ccTLDs are open to anyone in the world, while others require a local address, company or trademark. Check the registry (http://www.zadna.org.za) or an accredited registrar before you buy.
Is .za DNSSEC-signed?
Yes. The root zone has a DS record for .za, so DNSSEC validation works all the way down from the root.
Sources
Data from IANA root zone version 2026102000. Last changed April 16, 2025. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
