Pay respect to a South African instrument (6)
I believe the answer is:
salute
'pay respect to' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'a south african instrument' is the wordplay.
'a south african' becomes 'SA' (abbreviation).
'instrument' becomes 'lute' (lute is a kind of instrument).
'sa'+'lute'='SALUTE'
(Other definitions for salute that I've seen before include "Ceremonial firing of guns" , "Hail, greet" , "Hail with a gesture" , "Greet in military style" , "Gesture of greeting" .)