Some 20 months after his appointment, Stuart Baxter finally experienced his first real moment of jubilation as Bafana Bafana coach.

South Africa secured passage to the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt later this year after their 2-1 win over Libya at the weekend.

Baxter's tenure has not always been rosy, especially after failing to meet his initial mandate of qualifying for the 2018 Fifa World Cup. Qualification for Afcon was indeed a rare moment of joy for the former SuperSport United mentor.

"It was important to feel that it was not all doom and gloom and there were people out there who were actually behind us," Baxter said.

The Brit admitted that he most likely would have been fired if the national team had failed to qualify for the Afcon finals, taking place in Egypt in June.

"That's where we were when we went to Tunisia. I could have been sacked or I could have said this is not for me," he said.

Baxter and his team were met by an elated crowd at the OR Tambo International Airport yesterday when they landed from North Africa.

The 65-year-old tactician was grinning from ear to ear after achieving his mandate of qualification. Going into the tournament between June 21 and July 19, the coach has called for the public not to paralyse the players with pressure.

"I don't want these lads to have weights around their necks," he said.

"We deserve to be going to Egypt so let's go and have a good go at them."

It took some mental toughness in Tunisia to overcome the aggressive Libyans, and now the technical team aims to build from that.

"I don't think you could hear, [but] the fans were saying things like f#%k you Bafana and it was 14,000 people and throwing bottles at the technical area," he said.