Just to tie up the loose ends here, I did call the PP line, got a helpful agent in Honolulu who advised me to just wait until the 24 hours passed and if I didn't hear anything, then call. At about -24 hours plus a few minutes I did get an email stating the tickets were confirmed and showing me all the math regarding the conversion from South African currency to dollars and with seat assignments made. All's well that ends well. I haven't been able to access the PNR on SAA's site though using the confirm numbers, both UA and SAA, provided me. Not that important at this point. By the way, the fares did match what I saw on Orbitz and the SAA site.