Vika Mpisane

Vika Mpisane is from South Africa. He was born in Mthwalume, in southern KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa in September 1973. He completed all of his primary education in Esbanini Primary School in Mthwalume between 1980 and 1986. His secondary education was completed in Luthuli High School in Turton, Mthwalume, between 1987 and 1991. He proceeded to study law at the then University of Natal (now University of KwaZulu-Natal) Durban campus in 1993. He graduated in early 1997 with a B.Proc degree and proceeded to graduate for his honours law degree (LLB) at the same University in early 1999. A staunch soccer fan and player from his youth, he represented the Under 23 and senior teams of the University of Natal's soccer team. He also graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration from Aston Business School (Birmingham, England) in 2018.

At the then University of Natal-Durban, Vika commenced his career into politics, policy development and transformation. He was a member of the South African Student Congress - SASCO - the student wing of the African National Congress. He was elected into the Student Representative Council (SRC) in August 1995 and served until September 1997. He was the Transformation Officer of the SRC, and also acted as the Vice President of the SRC in 1996. As an SRC member, he represented the student community in various University structures, including the Broad Transformation Forum, University Forum and other special task teams that sort to increase support to students from the Black community.

Upon completion of his studies, he was employed as the Transformation Officer of the University of KwaZulu-Natal and was responsible for coordinating transformation initiatives of the University. Vika left the University of KwaZulu-Natal in September 2000 to join the Johannesburg-based National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) as its Programmes Director. He ran NEDLAC's operations and oversaw its chambers of negotiation between the South African Government, organised labour, organised business and civil society. He left NEDLAC in September 2002 for private business until July 2004 when he joined Cortell Consulting as its public sector Marketing Manager.

In April 2006 he joined the .ZA Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) as its General Manager. In October 2013, he became the Chief Executive Officer of ZADNA. Through his association with ZADNA, he was elected into the Board of African Top Level Domains (AfTLD). Vika was elected as the Chairman of African Top Level Domains in April 2009 and continued in this capacity until July 2012 when he stepped down. Between 2009 and 2016, Vika served as one of the 3 Councillors representing African country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) in the ICANN ccNSO Council. He participated in various ccNSO structures, including the ccNSO Finance Working Group (as Deputy Chairman) and the ccNSO Programme Working Group (as Deputy Chairman).

Some of Vika's notable achievements in his association with ZADNA and the global Internet community include establishing AfTLD's organisational machinery, setting up ZADNA operations, developing .ZA business model, and strategic and business plans, developing a clear policy and regulatory framework for .ZA, and leading negotiations for the establishment of the ZA Central Registry (ZACR). He also participated in community efforts to have the African Union Commission endorse ZACR's application to ICANN for the right to launch the dotAfrica Internet domain. The dotAfrica domain was eventually launched in 2017.

He also helped secure the support of the ZA Central Registry by the South African Government for the launch of the dotCapeTown, dotDurban and dotJoburg Top Level Domains (TLDs) in 2014. Vika was a member of the Project Teams that oversaw the ZA Central Registry ICANN application process for the 4 TLDs. He was a Member of the dotAfrica Steering Committee between 2012 and 2018.

Throughout his +13 year tenure at the helm of ZADNA (first as General Manager and then as CEO and Executive Director from October 2013), he served as an ex officio Board member. ZADNA always achieved clean financial audits and was always financially healthy throughout his tenure. Vika gradually increased ZADNA's revenue collections from the .ZA domain name registration fees, while at the same time ensuring that the .ZA annual per domain name registration fees remained at less than R50.00.

In South Africa, Vika was a member of the National ICT Forum of the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services. He also participated actively in the finalisation of the National Integrated ICT Policy White Paper of the Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services which was promulgated on 28 September 2016.

He became a member of the Board of Directors of Afrinic in July 2018 representing the Southern Africa region. He was subsequently nominated and elected unopposed for an additional 2 years in the 2019 Afrinic Board elections of June 2019. His employment as CEO of ZADNA was terminated in July 2016 following a protracted disciplinary process. He continues to serve as a Board member of Afrinic.

• Profile on the ccNSO website
• Vika Mpisane - CEO: ZADNA, iWeek