South Africa were handed a fair path to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations finals after being drawn against Cameroon and minnows Gambia and Mauritania in the Cup's qualifiers. The qualifiers get under way in mid-year. Bafana Bafana begin their campaign on June 13 at home to Gambia and away to Mauritania on the first weekend of September.The crunch games against Cameroon will be played back-to-back next year, with Bafana away first on March 24 and home on March 28 or 29.The last two qualifiers take place next year - away to Gambia on June 5 and home to Mauritania on September 3.Former Bafana goalkeeper and analyst André Arendse believed national coach Shakes Mashaba should be pleased at the draw."You know what, Cameroon don't even scare me in that group. And I know they're one of the top African football countries," Arendse said."It's really a group that wouldn't scare me at all, and in fact I'd be more than delighted if I were Shakes Mashaba."You're not travelling to overly hostile places. And that's important to know because it plays a big part in your campaign."Cameroon, like Bafana, had a poor Afcon in January, ending bottom of their group, to be eliminated in the group stages. They were, however, undefeated in the qualifiers from a group that included Ivory Coast and DR Congo."Our last Afcon showing should be an indicator of where we stand, and who we should be scared of. And for me in that group there is no one we should be scared of."Yesterday's draw in a Cairo hotel ballroom saw South Africa placed outside of the top seeds after Gabon was named as the host of the 2017 finals, winning the vote ahead of Algeria and Ghana.South Africa were the last of the countries pulled out of the pot of second seeds and had to wait until the last name was drawn to find out the full identity of their group.The winners of the 13 groups qualify for the finals in January 2017, along with the two best runners-up.A record of 52 countries entered the preliminaries. Only Eritrea and Somalia are absent.While being "very happy" with the draw, Mashaba said: "Some may see this as a relatively easy group. On paper it is, but on the field it is a different story altogether."I have said before that there are no easy matches in international football any more; football has changed and every country will give it a go."..