Thanks all for your valuable advice!
Great to hear it would be possible, but the whole point of going to SA would be the cost (and a bit of adventure). I was thinking about getting as much as possible done in SA (including IR), but I heard indeed that converting the CPL is more difficult and costly than converting the PPL. Thanks, I will take your advice and look into the possibilities to get the PPL + IR in SA, then convert the IR and do the CPL and instructor training in Europe.
That's also something I am worried about, who knows how long it takes for the flight industry to pick up, and as you said, with pilots getting laid off there will probably be an influx of highly skilled instructors. I do think (and hope) however that the aviation industry is kinda back to normal in a year or two, with many around me dying to travel again. I am an EU citizen working in Hong Kong at the moment.