SAFRING communicates with ringers and interested parties through annually publishing one or two issues of a newsletter, Afring News, and by maintaining a list server.

SAFRING has a strict code of ethics to ensure the safety of birds handled.

Bird ringing was initially organized by an NGO (Southern African Ornithological Society, SAOS) and the ringing effort steadily increased and by the 1960s the cost and complexity of administering the scheme exceeded the resources of the SAOS.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) coordinated a deal whereby the four provincial conservation departments became the major sponsors of the National Unit for Bird Ringing Administration (NUBRA), in 1971, based at the University of Cape Town.

In 2008 SAFRING organised a wide variety of events to celebrate its 60th anniversary of bird ringing in South Africa.