Allow them to circumvent South African party holding knife (6)
I believe the answer is:
lancet
'knife' is the definition.
(I know that lancet is a type of knife)
I can't explain the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lancet that I've seen before include "provided cuttings" , "Medical instrument" , "Sharp instrument" , "Theatrical knife" , "Surgical knife with a pointed double-edged blade: pointed Gothic arch" .)