ISPA Statement on Number Resource Society communication - zanog-discuss

14 May 2026


      Dear ZANOG
ISPA notes that the Number Resource Society ("NRS") has recently circulated
a statement claiming that "ISPA's bylaw plan turns your AFRINIC rights into
a gym membership". By now, AFRINIC members should all be aware of the
dubious reputation of NRS and know that any communication issued by that
organisation is likely to be substantially untethered from facts.
Nonetheless, ISPA wishes to make the following clear:
*	ISPA does not have a "bylaw plan". ISPA requested that its Mauritian
legal team review the current AFRINIC Bylaws and highlight all of the areas
where they conflict with Mauritian company law. In the interests of
transparency, a first draft of this review was widely shared with ISPA's
members and with the ZANOG technical community. Clearly, NRS representatives
saw this draft and decided to use it to further misinform the AFRINIC
community.
*	ISPA's legal team identified the fact that AFRINIC Resource Members
are not Registered Members of AFRINIC under Mauritian law as a key concern.
This dissonance effectively means that many of the rights provided to
Resource Members under the Bylaws can be legally challenged in Mauritius.
Indeed, a number of the legal cases brought against AFRINIC over the past
decade hinge on the fact that the Mauritian Companies Act limits many
governance functions to Registered Members.
*	ISPA's legal team has proposed amendments to the Bylaws that would
make it clear that only the directors of AFRINIC are Registered Members of
the organisation, as well as introducing Community Resolutions as a
mechanism for ensuring that resource members can still participate in
AFRINIC governance. This is one approach to resolving the problem, and ISPA
freely acknowledges that it has both pros and cons.
*	In the NRS communication, an alternative proposal is made, which is
to include all AFRINIC Resource Members as Registered Members of the
company. While theoretically interesting, this suggestion effectively means
that all 2600-odd resource members would need to be registered with the
Mauritian Registrar of Companies. This does not seem like a particularly
practical solution.
*	ISPA notes that submissions to the AFRINIC Bylaws Review Committee
are only the first step on the review process, and that there will be a
number of additional opportunities for stakeholders to provide input.
*	ISPA trusts that its submission to the AFRINIC Bylaws Review
Committee will be valuable in assisting the Committee in identifying
portions of the Bylaws that are at odds with Mauritian company law so that
those problems can all be remedied.
*	ISPA also encourages AFRINIC resource members to make their own
submissions https://afrinic.net/community-consultation-review-bylaws  to
AFRINIC. ISPA politely suggests that such submissions should be informed by
consideration of the Bylaws themselves together with considered analysis
from those who have AFRINIC's members' best interests at heart.
Kind regards
ISPA Secretariat
secretariat@ispa.org.za mailto:secretariat@ispa.org.za
Tel: 010 500 1200