Bothma leads as South Africans make running
Bothma returned at 6.30am local time to complete his thunderstorm-delayed opening round and carded the best score of the week so far with an eight-under-par 64.
He followed that up with a second-round 71 to claim the outright lead on nine-under, one ahead of countryman Titch Moore and England's Phillip Archer.
"I've got the flu so I just wanted to get through my round," said Bothma.
"I was quite nonchalant. I didn't go for the big shots just went for the middle of the green and now and then I pulled or pushed one close to the hole.
"I'm now just going to go out on the weekend, play conservative golf and not make any bogeys and see what happens.
"I've set my goal and if that's good enough then great. If not, then there's nothing I can do about it."
Archer, who held the overnight lead on six-under, having benefited from an early start yesterday, continued his solid performance with eight straight pars on the back nine which he played first then followed up with three birdies coming home for a two-under-par round of 70.
"It's a very nice position to be in," said Archer.
"My first nine was a bit ropey but I scrambled well and I felt I had found my swing when the back nine arrived.
"My driver was causing problems but coming home I don't think I missed a fairway."
Scotland's Doug McGuigan added a 69 to his opening 68 to stand joint fifth on seven-under, alongside defending champion Charl Schwartzel, South African compatriots Grant Veenstra, James Kingston and Nic Henning and Zimbabwe's Sean Farrell.
World number five Ernie Els, after completing his first round in one under par, picked up the pace with a 67 to move to six-under.
England's David Lynn is three shots back after returning to finish his first round having spent the night in hospital receiving treatment for a scorpion bite.
He had retired to bed having managed only 14 holes on Thursday when he was woken in his hotel room by girlfriend Yvonne McCadden.
"At about nine last night Yvonne and I were lying in bed when, out of the blue, she let out a scream and grabbed her leg in pain," said Lynn, who said Yvonne told him a scorpion had become caught up in their duvet and had stung her leg.
"I was shocked but then somehow the thing managed to sting my hand as well!"
Both attended the nearby Nelspruit Hospital where both got injections.
"Thankfully the scorpion turned out to be non-lethal. We arrived back at our room at 3.30am but with my tee time at 6.30 this morning I didn't get one ounce of sleep," Lynn added.
He closed his first round with a 73 and then followed up with impressive four-under-par 68.
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