QUESTION:
Where do you get the ironing board cover material you mentioned, in South Africa?

ANSWER:
I'm afraid I wouldn't have any idea where to find material in S. Africa. For that matter, I've had a hard time finding this material in the States! When we were in Australia I found reasonably priced tent flies (rectangular, grommeted tent material) that was "silvered", that I was able to use for a foredeck cover. It was in K-Mart (but I'm not sure Kmart has any overseas presence anymore)! It had the benefit of being very lightweight, but because of its light weight it needed to be well-reinforced in order to hold up, with reinforcing strips running the entire cover for attachment points to not rip through the material. My approach to finding suitable materials for my stuff is to haunt the salvage disposal stores (do you have them in S. Africa?), the fabric outlet stores, other places where manufacturers and retail stores dispose of their overstocks, remnants, last-year's fads. My quick check on the internet doesn't provide any sources of reasonably-priced camping supplies, so perhaps there's not much around anymore.