The mystery of za.co.za

Adapted from .co.za Domains. Article by Hans Christian

Follow the interesting email communication thread between Hans Christian and Uniforum's Sipho Xaba. {Uniforum is the nonprofit that operates the .za, cctLD for South Africa} If someone has a good clue to the mystery, I would like to know too.

The domain name za.co.za appears to be available, yet all registration attempts are ignored. I asked Uniforum why.

If you check the whois record for za.co.za one's told that the domain is available for registration. I've tried to register the domain several times over the last couple of years without success so this time I decided to ask Uniforum's support.

 

The mystery of za.co.za

2011-05-10, Hans Christian

The domain name za.co.za appears to be available, yet all registration attempts are ignored. I asked Uniforum why.
If you check the whois record for za.co.za one's told that the domain is available for registration. I've tried to register the domain several times over the last couple of years without success so this time I decided to ask Uniforum's support.

date 29 April 2011 16:52
subject za.co.za

Hello,

is there any reason why za.co.za cannot be registered, please? 
It shows up as available on whois.co.za but registration requests 
appear to be ignored. Is that on purpose?

Best regards,
Hans

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date 9 May 2011 14:52
subject [rt.coza.net.za #1341154] za.co.za

Good Day

You can not register a TLD (Top Level Domain name) ZA refers to 
all South African domain names registered. i;e co.za, org.za or ac.za 
etc. You can see that all these TLD refersto South Africa at the end.

Regards
Sipho Xaba

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date 9 May 2011 15:07
subject Re: [rt.coza.net.za #1341154] za.co.za

Thanks for your reply Sipho,

I'm not sure I understood entirely though :) So you're saying one
cannot register za.co.za because za is also the TLD for SA? I'd like 
to register the domain za.co.za which isn't really any different from 
ab.co.za or example.co.za. It's just a two letter domain under .co.za.

So it's not a technical but an administrative restriction? I just find it 
odd that whois states that it is available 
http://whois.co.za/cgi-bin/whois.sh?Domain=za
After all net.co.za, com.com, net.net are all valid domains too, so 
za.co.za should not be any different.

Sorry to keep asking, but I'd really like to understand it.

Best regards,
HC

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date 9 May 2011 16:44
subject [rt.coza.net.za #1341154] za.co.za

Good Day

Please note that its technically restricted cause it causes confusion 
within the Co.ZA system.

Regards
Sipho Xaba