South Africa's starters told to get try (5)
I believe the answer is:
essay
'try' is the definition.
(essay can mean to try or attempt something)
'south africa's starters told' is the wordplay.
'starters' suggests taking the first letters (the letters which start the words).
'told' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
The initial letters of 'south africas' is 'sa'.
'sa' sounds like 'ESSAY'.
'to get' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for essay that I've seen before include "Endeavour" , "Prose composition" , "Composition, paper, article" , "Short treatise" , "Have a shot at a written piece" .)