Hi there Spitfire
There's plenty more knowledgable folk on here that will answer your question better than I can but I'm not sure if you would be considered in any commercial operation without an IR even in the bush most of which is VFR of course.
Given that you are involved with the JAR syllabus I'm just wondering if you knew that they had changed the rules regarding the IR course which used to be a mandatory 55 hours costing something like £13K. Now if you have an ICAO IR its only a 15 hour conversion upto 10 of which can be in a sim.
For about 30,000 Rand (approx £2K) you can get a SA (ICAO) IR which will then make you more employable in Africa and when you go back to the UK you will only have to do the shortened cheaper conversion. May be this is something to consider. It should also make you a better pilot. Anyway its just a thought.