African wasn't a criminal (6)
I believe the answer is:
tswana
'african' is the definition.
(Tswana is an example)
'wasn't a criminal' is the wordplay.
'criminal' indicates anagramming the letters.
'wasnt'+'a'='wasnta'
'wasnta' anagrammed gives 'TSWANA'.
(Other definitions for tswana that I've seen before include "African language" , "African people" , "Tribesman" .)