• AfriNIC delayed eleven months to register Cloud Innovation, then removed the entry in ten days
• Cloud Innovation filed a fresh court challenge demanding the record be corrected
The fact
AfriNIC delayed eleven months before adding Cloud Innovation to its statutory register of members, then removed the entry ten days later without issuing a court order or public explanation. The receiver, Gowtamsingh Dabee, had pledged in June 2025 to correct the register within fifteen days of a Supreme Court order. Cloud Innovation filed a fresh court challenge demanding the record be restored. The erasure comes after AfriNIC's 9 May communiqué suggested the court order concerned only its resource register, not the statutory register under the Companies Act.
The Assessment
This is not AfriNIC's first governance failure under receivership. The pattern is accumulating: delayed court compliance, an election challenged on nine separate grounds, a board passing contested policy while its legitimacy hangs before the courts. The receiver's role is to enforce discipline, yet his own compliance with judicial direction is now in question. When court orders can be ignored without explanation, the institution is operating without meaningful accountability. For BTW readers, the stakes are structural—an RIR that treats judicial oversight as optional guidance undermines the credibility of the entire African internet numbering system.
What to Watch
Whether CIL's court filing will force AfriNIC to reverse the erasure and restore the register entry, and whether the Mauritian courts will compel the receiver to explain who ordered the removal and on what authority.
Also read: When votes don’t count: AFRINIC’s disallowed members
