I flew from Dulles to Harare thru Joberg earlier this month on South African Airways. I placed my ammo in a metal box with a TSA lock and stuck the box in my checked luggage. It traveled both ways in my checked luggage. On my way over the TSA folks asked me why I didn't put my ammo in my rifle case. I had to explain to them that SAA doesn't allow ammo in with the rifles.
On the way back my ammo was checked through to Dulles from Harare in my checked luggage, but the airline personnel insisted on placing a "firearms" tag on my duffel bag even though there was only ammo inside. Again I changed flights in Joberg without incident and my ammo arrived in my checked duffel bag. At Dulles I noticed several small boxes that obviously contained ammo that also had the "firearms" tag on them. I spoke to one of the other hunters as he claimed his ammo and he told me that SAA in Joberg insisted that they remove the ammo from their checked bags and check separately. They were not charged any extra baggage fees for the ammo.
It seems that if you are checking in at Joberg they will make you check the ammo as a separate item, but not if you are connecting from another flight, but then that is only based upon my one time experience.
