The whole South African verification system assumes a monthly payslip, which leaves freelancers, contractors and sole proprietors in an awkward position: the income is real and the document that proves it does not exist.
What most lenders and letting agents will actually accept is three to six months of bank statements. What they are testing is not whether you earned a headline figure once, but whether money arrives regularly enough to cover a repayment every month. A summary that lays the deposits out month by month makes that far easier to assess than a stack of raw statements.
Other documents strengthen the picture. An accountant's letter confirming your income carries weight, as do annual financial statements, your latest SARS assessment or IT34, and signed contracts showing work already committed. If you are registered for provisional tax, your IRP6 submissions are useful evidence too.
One caution worth taking seriously. Assessments are usually run on your weakest months rather than your average, so presenting an uneven income honestly, with the lean months visible, tends to go better than a headline figure that falls apart when they open the statements you attached.