Big change for .CO.ZA
The .ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) has announced a strategic shift in its market forecasts and registration targets for the .ZA domain namespace.
The organisation’s annual performance plan for the 2026/27 financial year revealed a marked reduction in its target for commercial .ZA domain registrations for the 2028/29 and 2029/30 financial years.
Critically, the organisation told MyBroadband that the adjusted targets should not be interpreted as a decline in relevance or demand for the .ZA namespace.
“The demand for .ZA domain registrations remains stable and continues to grow, driven by businesses, entrepreneurs, public institutions, and individuals seeking a credible South African digital identity,” it said.
“Following a regular review of its planning conventions, ZADNA has adjusted its projected commercial registration targets for the 2028/29 and 2029/30 financial years.”
ZADNA described the adjustment as a strategic refinement and noted that earlier projections in the 2025/26 Annual Performance Plan were based on aggressive post-pandemic growth expectations.
“The authority has now reassessed these trends to ensure future goals remain realistic, evidence-based, and achievable,” it said.
“The .ZA namespace remains a trusted and nationally significant digital asset that continues to support South Africa’s digital economy, online presence, and digital transformation objectives.”
According to ZADNA, the global domain name industry has entered a more mature phase, reflected in many registries’ adoption of more conservative and sustainability-focused forecasting methods.
“This shift places greater emphasis not only on registration volumes, but also on retention, stability, utilisation, trust, security, and long-term ecosystem value,” it said.
“The adjustment, therefore, reflects a strategic refinement of the long-term forecasting methodology rather than a weakening of performance or reduced confidence in the .ZA namespace.”
ZADNA said it remains committed to building a resilient, inclusive, and globally competitive digital ecosystem that advances South Africa’s digital identity and participation in the global digital economy.
PR and marketing manager at ZADNA, Angel Selebano, said the organisation would focus on strengthening the resilience, trust, and long-term value of the .ZA namespace.
“Our focus is not only on growing registrations, but on ensuring that the .ZA namespace continues to serve as a trusted, secure, and nationally relevant digital identity platform,” she said.
Some local companies have recently dropped the .CO.ZA namespace, with one of the latest being Advtech, South Africa’s largest private education group.
South Africa’s biggest private education group dropped .CO.ZA
Advtech’s website, Advtech.co.za, started redirecting users to another website in mid-March 2026, after the company announced plans to migrate its primary website to “groupadvtech.com”.
It said the move to .COM reflected the company’s international expansion, and alongside the domain name change, Advtech debuted a new corporate logo.
The company said the new logo provided a “more welcoming look”, with it replacing the “v” with a book symbol.
“We are also very much an international business and wanted our Internet presence to convey this, hence the move from ‘.co.za’ to ‘.com,'” said group CEO Geoff Whyte.
Advtech is one of several major corporations to drop South Africa’s country-code top-level domain, joining Investec, Absa Bank, and Anglo American.
In 2025, it was revealed that net additions for .CO.ZA domains slowed significantly. Net additions averaged just under 55,000 domains per year from 2015 to 2020.
However, it dropped to just under 18,000 per year between 2021 and 2024. Moreover, .CO.ZA deletions surpassed creations in 2023.
While just over 31,500 domains were registered between January and May 2025, the ZA Registry Consortium (ZARC) recorded only a net addition of 13,412 .CO.ZA domains.
Across all of 2025, net additions, which are new domains subtracted by deleted domains, reached 24,747. Meanwhile, the net movements for 2026 are already higher with 26,802 domains registered.
The table below compares ZADNA’s commercial .ZA domain registration targets highlighted in its 2025/26 and 2026/27 annual performance plans.
| Financial year | 2025/26 APP target | 2026/27 APP target | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/2026 | 268,748 | 268,748 | 0 |
| 2026/2027 | 275,466 | 275,466 | 0 |
| 2027/2028 | 275,466 | 275,466 | 0 |
| 2028/2029 | 285,000 | 275,466 | 9,534 |
| 2029/2030 | 285,000 | 275,466 | 9,534 |
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