Friend just informed me that he used AA miles to fly on Turkish Air last year . A stopover in Istanbul would be wonderful if this works out. I didn't realize that AA and Turkish Air were partners.
They were but are not anymore. I suggest you check out aa.com and the all-partner award pages for the partners. You can connect through Europe on any of a number of carriers, but the only two partners you can use to get to Jo'burg are BA and Iberia.