Crossword Genius

One leaving tutors takes girl round a former African province (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

transvaal

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'province' is the definition.
(I know that Transvaal is a province)

'one leaving tutors takes girl round a former african' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'one' could be 'an' (an apple is one apple) and 'an' is located in the answer.
'a' is found in the answer.
'girl' could be 'val' (short for Valerie) and 'val' is present in the remaining letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for transvaal that I've seen before include "Former province of South Africa" , "old region" , "South African region" , "Boer republic" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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