Flipped quote about South African abstainer (7)
I believe the answer is:
ascetic
'abstainer' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'flipped quote about south african' is the wordplay.
'flipped' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'quote' becomes 'cite' (synonyms).
'about' becomes 'c' (circa).
'south african' becomes 'SA' (abbreviation).
'cite'+'c'+'sa'='citecsa'
'citecsa' backwards is 'ASCETIC'.
(Other definitions for ascetic that I've seen before include "One who practises extreme self-discipline" , "Eremite" , "he never imbibes" , "recluse" , "One living strict life" .)