LazyLion
King of de Jungle
What about Google Talk? I am not familiar with all of Google's goings on, but since they are establishing (or have established, dunno) "a presence" in SA, would that include local Gmail and also Google Talk?
Also not local. The best you will get is using Fring on your cellphone.
There might be a few local chat clients like QQ or MXit or others that can hook you up with your Skype contacts, but I don't know if they offer VOIP.