Yes, it's speculation, but any theories as to why QR refuses to ticket these? Do they just not want to do it? I hung in there for a couple weeks and was put off again and again, although I was never blatantly refused ticketing. Going through BA is OK, but somewhere you're likely going to have to "waste" a segment. And it's not that they're not "on it" at QR--within a couple hours of being ticketed by BA I got an email saying they were giving up since I'd been ticketed. It would be nice if AA or BA would ticket for them as AA does for RJ. Or maybe QR will eventually get around to it if one persists. I've half a notion to try to book a DONE* with QR again beginning when I get back to CPT to complete the current one. That would give them 10-11 months to get all the details sorted.

I googled "opening a bank account in SA" and my first result (so, no, I did NOT research extensively) returned this:
http://answersafrica.com/how-to-open...th-africa.html
Go to the non-resident section. It looks doable. You'll notice you get a debit card and a credit card. That card should work for Mindpearl (unfortunately, drat, without any, let alone double, miles). It doesn't fix the local address problem, and theoretically, you could do this with a current card, but I wonder if having a SA bank account would add weight to one's creds. Maybe there's a SA Flyertalker that would "loan" his address--I'd think that would be a very low risk thing to do. Or rent an AirBnB for the time it takes to ticket. Maybe a Couchsurfer host?
If one person, maybe me, did open an account, would there be a way to buy for others on this board that wouldn't be a financial risk to either party?
Any other thoughts? I'll be in CPT in April and am willing to do some local research if any brilliant ideas. I think JonNYC has the best solution, though; have your friend buy the ticket and reimburse.