mj,
Does the SAA bidding system work on Seniority and is Mr macco fairly senior?
At EK we have five bid groups which rotate, such that when your group is at the top of the list, you get a fairly "Senior" bid, but when at the bottom you get the leftovers.
When in second then first position, you would have a good shot at, say, the last week of one month followed by the first week of the next off, but that only come around once every five months.
If you are coming from SA (particularly Jo berg) I'm not trying to be factitious by saying the chaos on the roads would be more than made up for by the lack of violent crime, particularly towards Western Ex pats (and before the chorus jumps in, I know it happens, but much less than many other places.).
There are a lot of Springboks here and, generally, I think they are probably one of the happiest groups.
Hope it all works out for you, in any case.