Number Resource Society
How AFRINIC elections were manipulated for two decades – and why 2025 brings new hope
What NRS raised in the 2025 AFRINIC election campaign, the safeguards it sought for members’ votes, and the governance questions that remain after the vote.
On this page
First published on 11 May 2025: NRS’s account of how AFRINIC’s elections were captured, and why the question of who may speak and vote for a member still decides the registry’s future.
Inside AFRINIC’s 20-year election manipulation: why 2025 could change everything.
The Silent Takeover
For far too long, a small group of insiders quietly hijacked the democratic process within AFRINIC. By exploiting complex systems and positioning themselves as “helpful” consultants, they gained access to members’ login credentials. What started as assistance turned into manipulation: they retained control of those logins and voted in members’ names without consent.
This was not isolated. NRS described activity across dozens, even hundreds, of accounts and argued that the resulting majorities could not be treated as a normal measure of member support.
Red Flags That Couldn’t Be Ignored
The 2025 article pointed to duplicate email addresses across multiple member organisations and to one person appearing to control 10, 20 or even 50 votes. NRS’s position was direct: if those records were accurate, the problem was election integrity rather than ordinary political disagreement.
The Internet Service Providers’ Association of South Africa also raised concerns about practices that could damage the legitimacy of AFRINIC governance. By 2023, AFRINIC’s Board had collapsed and a court had intervened. Those events made the community’s record of authority impossible to ignore.
The 2025 Reform Attempt
AFRINIC introduced four safeguards to protect voting integrity:
- Voting representatives must be officially authorised by a company director.
- Authorisations must be supported by notarised letters.
- Official company email addresses must be used.
- Each voting representative must provide government-issued identification.
NRS presented these requirements as guardrails against one person controlling multiple member votes. Whether the rules worked in practice is a question for the election record and the evidence submitted through the applicable process.
Who Benefits From Lower Friction?
The article recorded resistance to the new requirements, including the view that they were too cumbersome. NRS answered that a legitimate voter casting one vote should not be confused with a system that makes it easy for an intermediary to control many accounts.
Integrity is rarely the most convenient option for an institution that has tolerated informal access. That is precisely why the rules, their enforcement and the underlying records must be open to scrutiny.
The Four Safeguards Members Were Asked to Use
NRS’s call to action asked members to reclaim control of their own participation.
- Audit AFRINIC contacts. Check MyAFRINIC and confirm that administration and voting contacts are trusted internal personnel.
- Secure credentials. Change passwords, enable two-factor authentication and never share a login or one-time password.
- Complete verification. Obtain the director’s signed and notarised letter, use a company email and submit the required documents.
- Stay vigilant. Continue checking the account and the voting record after an election.
A New Era — If Members Choose It
NRS argued that the June 2025 election was about more than who occupied Board seats: it was about whether AFRINIC belonged to its members or to a small group able to exploit gaps in the system.
That election window has now closed. The underlying governance question did not disappear when the calendar moved on. It became a question of records, authority, accountability and the conditions under which members can act together.
The conclusion remains NRS’s call for accountability and transparency; its instruction to show up and vote was for the June 2025 election.
Final Call: Reclaim. Reset. Rise.
NRS ended its 2025 article with a warning against silent hijacking and a demand that AFRINIC return to its members.
About this article
The June 2025 election has closed. This article sets out NRS’s allegations and position as they stood then; member testimony, election materials, court records and later findings each add their own part of the story.
NRS first published this article on 11 May 2025 and revised it on 4 November 2025.
Where the work continues
For NRS’s current fight for Board accountability, read Action & accountability. NRS Shield shows how operators protect each other, and a Power of Attorney gives NRS the authority to act for your network.