Molehe Wesi .zadna CEO

Digitising The 'undomained'

By Fiona Wakelin & Koketso Mamabolo

Over the last twenty years the .za Domain Name Authority (.zadna) has positioned itself as one of the most stable administrators of country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) on the continent, tasked with the management and regulation of the domain namespace. Initially a fragmented industry, it has been consolidated over the years and has grown rapidly with over 1.3 million domain names registered.

Under the guidance of CEO Molehe Wesi, .zadna continues to expand and its work has gone beyond that of a regulation authority, with a range of programmes offering people and organisations access to a digital presence. Here Molehe takes us through some of .zadna’s work and its key projects.

How do domains work? Simply put, domain names give us an easier way to remember websites. “Otherwise, you’ll be forced to remember numbers instead of names,” explains Molehe. One of .zadna’s most notable achievements over the last twenty years was the transition from ZA Central Registry (ZACR) to the ZA Registry Consortium (ZARC) without a lapse in access, both within and outside South Africa.

He says despite what people think, the domain name industry is sizable. From a commercial perspective, .zadna is one of the largest on the continent. Anyone with a South African ID can become a member, and the organisation accounts to both members - who advise on policy and approve plans and budgets - and the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies.

Along with its private sector and civil society partners, other stakeholders include entities within the departments portfolio, such as the Film and Publication Board, the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA), the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (NEMISA) and the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) who are the administrators of the .gov.za and military .za domains.

Many flocked over to social media platforms during their rapid rise, abandoning domain names. “However, we saw an opportunity to say, instead of viewing it as a threat, which it is, rather turn it into an opportunity for ourselves and see how best we can align, while people retain social media presence coming from the domain name site,” says Molehe.

One of .zadna’s main programmes is digitising the ‘undomained’. With the objective of giving schools a digital presence and a target of over 22 000 schools, the .za Schools Digitisation Project is their highest priority. “I think it came to the fore during the pandemic that the schools which come from very disadvantaged areas, especially the ones from quintile one to quintile three, don’t have the same resources as the others.”

While also looking at providing learning management platforms to schools the “intention of the programme is to enable teaching to happen anywhere, anytime,” says Molehe. In an effort to help empower traditional authorities to be able to document their own stories, .zadna is also working on providing them with a digital presence. They are also partnering with NEMISA to provide digital upskilling programmes. The positive contributions don’t end there.

“One of the programmes which is close to our hearts is aimed towards the informal economy and provides a digital presence to informal traders so that they extend their reach and access to other markets. We hope to achieve this with a number of partners, both the department and, of course, within other departments of government.” Molehe finds excitement in everything .zadna is involved in, having found it easy to transition from an ICT background in the higher education sector. He brings to the role a consultative leadership approach and is not one to shy away from allowing others to guide him, allowing him to be better informed when he makes decisions.

Passionate about his job and rejuvenated by spending time with his wife and children, Molehe finds comfort in music and is currently doing his PhD in Information Systems at UCT.

One of Molehe’s most memorable moments since joining the organisation four years ago was last year’s Africa Internet Summit, which .zadna hosted with the African Network Operators Group. The summit provided the continent’s roleplayers a platform to discuss key issues in the African internet space, further entrenching .zadna's position as one of the continent's leading country code top level domain (ccTLD) administrators and leader in the internet industry.