South African mining could experience the same recovery under way in most other mining jurisdictions relatively quickly because its lagging relates overwhelmingly to injurious policy and not to the absence of inherent physical potential.

If South Africa’s political leadership delivers competitive, stable and predictable policies, sizable increases in investment will follow, which will boost employment, lift export earnings, increase gross domestic product and provide the scope for previously disadvantaged South Africans to be deployed across the broadest of career fronts.

South Africa could quickly put itself into a sweet spot that would allow it to take full advantage of the wide range of economic opportunity that mining spawns, from engineering and manufacture to banking and advisory.

Those who stand in the way of such progress are depriving every South African of greater employment, better education and improved socioeconomics.

A recent Chamber of Mines of South Africa survey pinpointed growth inhibitors as the absence of a nurturing environment and the damage being done by poisonous politics.

The uncertain political outlook, coupled with unprecedented low levels of investor confidence, is stunting South African mining and the many related businesses that it supports.

At the same time, South Africa’s sovereign investment downgrades have raised the long-term cost of capital, which has elevated return-on-investment hurdles and curbed the ability of viable projects to proceed. The outcome has been the needless foregoing of economic and transformational opportunity.

The chamber calculates that gross fixed investment in mining has been stagnant since 2009 and net investment has declined by 57% since 2008.

Despite commodity prices improving by 11% on average since 2006, output has been stagnant and employment numbers in mining have dropped by 70 000 over the last five years.

The overwhelming contribution to all this angst is self-inflicted, which cries out for correction.

Such correction is possible at low cost in that an already budgeted legislature and executive can be put to use to give the industry a positive new direction.

Fortunately, South Africa begins the new year with Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa at the helm of the African National Congress, which one hopes will influence matters positively.

However, at the time of going to press, the opportunity to set State electricity utility Eskom on that new positive path had been spurned, putting the spotlight on the reluctance of our national executive to do what is right for the people of South Africa.

Any obstacles that are put in the way of achieving what is best for the people should not be tolerated.

South Africans must demand that the country is placed on an economic growth path that matches its significant potential.