To help you understand who we are, where we come from, and where we are going. ZACR (nee UniForum SA) was formed in 1988 and took over the administration of co.za in 1995, with only 321 domain names in its books. In 2012 ZACR added three second level domains (net.za: web.za: org.za) making it the largest Registry Operator in Africa, with just over 859 000 co.za domain names. In 2014 we added the three zacities: .joburg | .capetown | .durban to our basket of products.
It was time to change guard and rebrand the Registry Operator for many factors primary one being to grow the .ZA domain name space.The Registry was then renamed ZA Central Registry (NPC) under the leadership and guidance of the CEO Lucky Masilela. Today, it is 34 years old and over 1,3 million .ZA domain names on record.
Another time for change and focus to allow restless innovation and opportunity to further grow the .ZA namespace, the Registry will hand over administration of all the .ZA domain names to ZA Registry Consortium (ZARC) a reengineered, consolidated joint venture between ZACR and DNS. As we turn a new chapter and looking ahead we will focus on administering dotJoburg, dotCapeTown and dotDurban.
A non-profit company called UniForum SA was formed.
On the 4th of June 1992, the co.za domain name zone was created and administered by the academic community, with bksinc.co.za being the first domain name to be registered on the 25th of June 1992.
UniForum assumes the role of administering the co.za domain name space.
UniForum SA transitions into the ZA Central Registry NPC (ZACR) and signs a Registry Operator Agreement to formalise the administration of the four second level domain names (SLDs: co.za | net.za | web.za | org.za). ZACR applies to ICANN for the rights to manage the four new domain name extensions of: .africa: .capetown: .durban: .joburg
ZACR receives the ‘Best Registry Operator in Africa Award’ by ICANN as a testament to its excellence in the African domain name ecosystem.
ZACR signs the Registry Agreements with ICANN to administer .africa, .joburg, .capetown and .durban; and launches the zacities.
ZADNA terminates the Registry Operator Agreement for the ZA SLDs enabling ZACR to focus on the administration of its three zacities: .joburg | .capetown | .durban, with the intention of growing these namespaces through awareness and innovation.
