Tammy Beaumont is the only one of the 16-strong group not to have been part of last summer's defeat by Australia.
Fellow batter Fran Wilson, who was in the Ashes Test squad, is not included despite recently being added to the list of centrally contracted players.
All-rounder Laura Marsh also misses out from those involved in the Ashes.
Seamer Natasha Farrant is the only other player from the 19 centrally contracted stars not chosen for this tour.
Eight of the squad - including captain Charlotte Edwards - will join up with their team-mates a little over a week before the first one-day international because of their Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) commitments in Australia.
England will play three one-day internationals, starting in Benoni on 7 February, before three Twenty20 matches against their South African counterparts.
"I can't wait to get going with the players in South Africa," said Robinson, who was appointed in November.
"Having started to work with some of them, having watched recent footage and through following the progress of those playing in the WBBL, there is no doubt that this is a hugely talented squad with enormous potential."
Wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor is likely to win her 100th ODI cap on the tour, 10 years after she earned her first against India at Lord's.
Charlotte Edwards (Kent, captain), Tammy Beaumont (Kent - T20s only), Katherine Brunt (Yorkshire), Kate Cross (Lancashire - ODIs only), Georgia Elwiss (Sussex), Lydia Greenway (Kent), Rebecca Grundy (Warwickshire), Jenny Gunn (Nottinghamshire), Danielle Hazell (Yorkshire), Amy Jones (Warwickshire, wk), Heather Knight (Berkshire, vice-captain), Natalie Sciver (Surrey), Anya Shrubsole (Somerset), Sarah Taylor (Sussex, wk), Lauren Winfield (Yorkshire), Danielle Wyatt(Nottinghamshire).
England women's coach Mark Robinson has named his first squad, which includes most of the players that lost the 2015 Ashes for the tour of South Africa.