The Kennel Union of Southern Africa (formerly The Kennel Union of South Africa) was founded in 1891 through the merge of the Southern African Kennel Club of Port Elizabeth (founded in 1883) and the South African Kennel Club of Cape Town (founded in 1889), ranking it among the world’s oldest kennel clubs.
KUSA is primarily a registration and administrative organization for nearly two hundred affiliated breed clubs with over six thousand members.
Over four hundred Championship or non-Championship events are licensed annually. Dog sports administered are competitive breed (beauty/conformation shows); field trials and the following competitive working disciplines: obedience classes, working trials, dog jumping, dog carting (draughtwork), and agility. Although breed (conformation) shows are limited to purebred dogs, any dog, purebred or not, if registered or recorded, may enter the working disciplines.
KUSA is a fully federated member of the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) and has reciprocal agreements with bodies such as The Kennel Club (UK) and the American Kennel Club (AKC) which are not members of the FCI. It also has agreements with other national member countries of the FCI such as the Australian National Kennel Council. KUSA represents the South African Dog world on the National Sports Commission and is recognized with the South African Stud Book Society. KUSA currently recognizes and promotes two developing South African breeds, the Africanis and the Boerboel.