Eccentric French composer’s link with South Africa (5)
I believe the answer is:
satie
'eccentric french composer's' is the definition.
(French composer Erik Satie, 1866-1925)
'link with south africa' is the wordplay.
'link' becomes 'tie' (synonyms).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'south africa' becomes 'SA' (abbreviation).
'tie' put after 'sa' is 'SATIE'.
(Other definitions for satie that I've seen before include "French avant-garde composer, Erik, d. 1925" , "scorer" , "French composer of the Gymnopedies, d. 1925" , "creative Frenchman" , "French composer (Trois Gymnopedies)" .)