Difficult to admit South Africa presents potential danger (6)
I believe the answer is:
hazard
'potential danger' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'difficult to admit south africa' is the wordplay.
'difficult' becomes 'hard' (synonyms).
'to admit' indicates putting letters inside.
'south africa' becomes 'za' (abbreviation for Zuid-Afrika).
'hard' going around 'za' is 'HAZARD'.
'presents' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for hazard that I've seen before include "Risk; guess" , "Something dangerous, such as black ice?" , "Golf course obstacle" , "Danger; gamble" , "Venture" .)