Cape Town - SAFA technical director Neil Tovey believes Bafana Bafana should do a better job of taking advantage of home games in future.
Shakes Mashaba's side failed to qualify for a the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations following a disappointing run in Group M with one win, four draws and one loss.
It remains unclear whether Mashaba will be retained as South Africa turn their attentions to qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
"To be honest, what we've seen of our national team is less than what we expected," Tovey told Soccer Laduma.
"We have the ability and the playing capacity to qualify for any CAF or FIFA tournament. We have that ability. We are not doing ourselves justice in that regard at this moment in time, not at all.
"We're far off it. To draw three games at home... you cannot qualify that way. We need to step it up. We've got to start making South Africa a fortress, where you don't leave with any points.
"If we had won our games at home, I don't think the qualification would have been a problem, but that needs to be instilled in our senior national team."
Shakes Mashaba's side failed to qualify for a the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations following a disappointing run in Group M with one win, four draws and one loss.
It remains unclear whether Mashaba will be retained as South Africa turn their attentions to qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
"To be honest, what we've seen of our national team is less than what we expected," Tovey told Soccer Laduma.
"We have the ability and the playing capacity to qualify for any CAF or FIFA tournament. We have that ability. We are not doing ourselves justice in that regard at this moment in time, not at all.
"We're far off it. To draw three games at home... you cannot qualify that way. We need to step it up. We've got to start making South Africa a fortress, where you don't leave with any points.
"If we had won our games at home, I don't think the qualification would have been a problem, but that needs to be instilled in our senior national team."