Service to the port 43 WHOIS service for .CO.ZA domains has been restored again.
Original report on 26 August
The WHOIS service by ZA Central Registry is not responding to queries for .CO.ZA domains. As a result, all lookups for .CO.ZA domains on our website will fail suggesting that the domains are already registered.
We have opened a support ticket with ZA Central Registry. While this is being worked on, please open a suppor ticket it you want to register a new .CO.ZA domain.