Summary

The ledger

The receivership order of 12 September 2023 rested on findings that a board without quorum and a vacant chief executive had left the registry without effective governance. ICANN publicly acknowledged the appointment of the Official Receiver on 22 September 2023 and offered neutral expert support. https://www.icann.org/en/announcements/details/icann-update-on-afrinic-22-09-2023-en An appeal against the receivership failed on 15 October 2024 ([2024] SCJ 473), the court holding that a mandate could only be issued by a quorate board — which did not exist. https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/announce/2025/002474.html By March 2023, even before the order, the Address Supporting Organization had documented the absence of a functioning board and proposed a re-engagement programme; the warning did not function as prevention. https://aso.icann.org/letter-to-icann-proposal-to-re-engage-the-afrinic-community/

Against that origin, each rebuilt control can be tested against a single standard: does it now operate without ongoing Receiver consent or court supervision? On the public record as of late September 2026, only two elements pass the operating test at all — the resumed allocations and the elected board — and both carry qualifications.

The allocations resumed on 1 July 2025, described by AFRINIC as an exceptional resumption. https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/announce/2025/002474.html That is genuine registry function. But AFRINIC's own member update of 12 March 2026 states that "the receiver has been approving IP address allocations and assignments that properly went through the application process" — the function operates, yet its approval authority still flows through the Receiver. https://afrinic.net/afrinic-member-update-organisational-stability-and-ongoing-legal-challenges.html That is supervision performing repair, not repair standing alone.

The board is elected and seated. The Supreme Court's order of 26 June 2025 required the Receiver to conduct elections by 30 September 2025; the Election Guidelines were signed by the Receiver on 6 September 2025, and the results for eight directors were announced on 12 September 2025 — six regional seats (Abdelaziz Hilali; Emmanuel Adewale Adedokun; Kaleem Ahmed Usmani; Kayemba Laurent Ntumba; Carla Sanderson; Fiona Asonga) and two non-regional (Benjamin Mark Roberts; Ajao Adewole David). https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/announce/2025/002474.html https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/announce/2025/002498.html https://election.afrinic.net/home/election-2025/about-election-2025/election-guidelines https://www.icann.org/en/announcements/details/icann-update-on-afrinic-22-09-2023-en AFRINIC's March 2026 update confirms the board resumed duty. https://afrinic.net/afrinic-member-update-organisational-stability-and-ongoing-legal-challenges.html https://afrinic.net/notice-for-termination-of-the-receivership-of-afrinic But the election itself was an act of court-delegated Receiver authority, its legitimacy has been contested in an election protest referenced in AFRINIC's own update, and the joint communiqué of October 2025 describes the Receiver as continuing to support the board "in implementing the necessary steps following the appointment of Directors" until his formal discharge. https://afrinic.net/afrinic-member-update-organisational-stability-and-ongoing-legal-challenges.html https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/rpd/2025/014531.html https://afrinic.net/appointment-of-mr-mike-silber-as-ceo-designate.html

The executive office is the clearest illustration of the consent asymmetry. The 24 August 2026 communiqué announcing Mike Silber as CEO Designate was issued by the Board "with the consent of the Receiver," and the CEO Search Committee was "initiated by the Receiver and the Board." https://afrinic.net/appointment-of-mr-mike-silber-as-ceo-designate.html Silber assumes office on 1 January 2027 — meaning that, as of this writing, the registry that lost its CEO in 2023 still has none in office, only a designate, and the appointment was expressly conditioned on the Receiver's agreement. https://afrinic.net/appointment-of-mr-mike-silber-as-ceo-designate.html

The statutory inspection is a state-led remedy with unpublished results. By Gazette General Notice No. 1045 of 2025 (18 July 2025), the Prime Minister designated AfriNIC a "declared company" under section 230 of the Companies Act 2001, requiring the Registrar of Companies to appoint an inspector; a Puisne Judge was released from judicial duties until 30 September 2025 to serve, with a nine-item terms of reference that includes whether the applicant for the receivership had locus standi, whether the receivers were properly appointed and acted in the company's interests — including in the election process — and whether Cloud Innovation's winding-up petition is frivolous and vexatious. https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/announce/2025/002474.html https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/08/01/supplied_mauritius_government_afrinic_proclamation.pdf No findings have been published. Until they are, this is the one remedy that could independently adjudicate the origin of the crisis, and it is silent.

The exit itself is the ledger's open page. The Receiver's application of 8 October 2025 (SC/COM/MOT/000757/2025) sought termination of the receivership and his own discharge; a court order of 29 October 2025 set a 12 November 2025 deadline for members to seek leave to intervene, and the application was heard on 26 November 2025. https://afrinic.net/notice-for-termination-of-the-receivership-of-afrinic https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/rpd/2025/014531.html AFRINIC's 12 March 2026 update states that "the receiver's application for discharge has been heard, and judgment is now awaited." https://afrinic.net/afrinic-member-update-organisational-stability-and-ongoing-legal-challenges.html As of 27 September 2026, no judgment granting or refusing that relief appears in the retrievable public record. https://btw.media/en/afrinic-receivership-instrument-chain https://techweez.com/2025/11/06/afrinic-receivership-termination/ Meanwhile Cloud Innovation Ltd objected to the discharge and sought a replacement receiver, and its winding-up petition (SC/COM/PET/000508/2025) remains pending, with ICANN applying to intervene. https://afrinic.net/afrinic-member-update-organisational-stability-and-ongoing-legal-challenges.html

What the ledger establishes

Read together, the instruments show an organisation whose registry function continues but whose governing authority has not yet detached from its supervisor. Two 2026 instruments recite the Receiver's consent; others do not — an asymmetry that BTW's instrument-chain audit documented and that this ledger treats as the measurable residue of unresolved supervision. https://btw.media/en/afrinic-receivership-instrument-chain https://afrinic.net/appointment-of-mr-mike-silber-as-ceo-designate.html The durability test is not met by announcements. It is met when allocations are approved by the board's own delegation, when the CEO serves without a consent recital, when the inspector's findings are published and acted on, and when the discharge judgment disposes of the exit. None of those conditions is satisfied on the current record. The repairs are real; their independence is not yet proven.

Sources: https://afrinic.net/notice-for-termination-of-the-receivership-of-afrinic https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/rpd/2025/014531.html https://afrinic.net/afrinic-member-update-organisational-stability-and-ongoing-legal-challenges.html https://afrinic.net/appointment-of-mr-mike-silber-as-ceo-designate.html https://election.afrinic.net/home/election-2025/about-election-2025/election-guidelines https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/announce/2025/002498.html https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/announce/2025/002474.html https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/08/01/supplied_mauritius_government_afrinic_proclamation.pdf https://www.icann.org/en/announcements/details/icann-update-on-afrinic-22-09-2023-en https://afrinic.net/afrinic-communique-15052026.html https://afrinic.net/communique-annulation-of-the-2025-board-election-process https://itp.cdn.icann.org/en/files/correspondence/lindqvist-to-dabee-25jun25-en.pdf https://aso.icann.org/letter-to-icann-proposal-to-re-engage-the-afrinic-community/ https://btw.media/en/afrinic-receivership-instrument-chain https://techweez.com/2025/11/06/afrinic-receivership-termination/