As far as ideas for Sth Am go - on my list of flights to make is SCL-IPC-SCL
My understanding of the rules re Africa is that you DON'T need to return to the country of origin at the end, just to somewhere in the continent of Africa. This is rule 4(c), which states:
Travel may originate at any point for which fares are published and must terminate at the same point, except that origin-destination surface segments are permitted as follows
(a) within the country of origin
(b) within the Middle East
(c) between the United States and Canada
(d) between HKG and China
(e) between Malaysia and SIN
(f) within Africa
So to my mind that means you can start the journey in CPT and end it in say NBO, without returning to Sth Africa - e.g. the last flight can be LHR-NBO.
And furthermore you in fact CANNOT do a LHR-JNB or CPT flight because that would violate the rule about transiting Europe, which can only be to one of the listed central African countires (see my earlier post)
See
http://www.oneworld.com/content/libr...rule_sheet.pdf for all the rules
With regards to buying the ticket in South Africa, where you end up has nothing to do with the price you pay for the ticket - that is driven by where you start, in your case CPT.
Do others agree with me? Has anyone actually done it - start in southern Africa or say MRU and end in central Africa?