1. Get some cryptocurrency.
   a. Buy some from a friend
   b. Get an account on a cryptocurrency exchange which accepts Fiat (normal money). DuckDuckGo for bitcoin south africa. Send in your Fiat money and exchange it for Bitcoin
2. Get an account on Bittrex. There you can exchange your bitcoin for most any of the cryptocurrencies.
3. Move your cryptocurrency away from the exchange to your own wallet.

Also have a look at Bit20. I am writing a series of articles about it, the first of which is here. It is an index for the top 20 cryptocurrencies, so it will likely always rise in value.