Not sure what its like over in SA but over here the estate agents take a hefty chunk when you decide to sell a property, combine that with stamps etc once you buy another when you get back and your talking a nice sum of $$$$. I would keep the house and rent it out.

My parents did a 6 month lap many years ago, they just short term rented out their place fully furnished. Everything surprizingly went smoothly even though the tenants had a big dog. But I would be picking tenants very carefully these days.