South Africa is quickly becoming reborn as an investment destination. Spirits are high, revival hopes are rising, green shoots are appearing and people are asking what they can do to help.

The late Hugh Masekela’s Send Me melody with which President Cyril Ramaphosa signed off his stunning State of the Nation address has begun inculcating a wonderful ‘I want to lend a hand’ attitude, re-echoing the famous Kennedy lines: ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’.

Many are stepping up to the plate at corporate level, pledging commitment to inclusive economic growth and offering to do their bit in South Africa’s turnaround towards job creation, inequality eradication and poverty alleviation.

All this is coinciding with favourable commodity price movement and the pullback of the last few lean years giving way to record dividend declarations, growth studies and a build-up of the crucial modernisation momentum.

Companies that one thought would be bruised and battered by low commodity prices have surprised on the upside with remarkably resilient financial results, with the performances of some mining majors being beyond brilliant.

Very noticeable during global conference calls has been the awareness of the world that South Africa has a new leader intent on renegotiating the damaging Mining Charter III and keen on introducing a legislative framework that is competitive and growth promoting.

Mining has just experienced a week in which the large diversified mining and marketing company Glencore reported its best results ever and Anglo American declared its first dividend in a decade.

The comment of management is that this is not a flash in the pan, with many reporting that better demand is set to arise out of more traditional markets across the Western world and not only China.

But not everything about the Cyril Spring is an immediate win. The strong rand it brought with it is making life difficult for mining companies that have been benefiting for some time from the high rand prices that a weaker rand ensures.

The stronger rand:dollar rate means that rand prices for the commodities sold in dollars have fallen, and puts downward pressure on revenues.

One hopes that the currency issue will not impact on employment capacity at a time when every single local job is crucial, but, in reality, some marginal operators are staring closure in the eye.

On the other hand, some strategic growth paths are creating new jobs as their growth plans unfold.

It was very interesting to close last week with a company like Northam Platinum telling journalists that its strong growth thrust is swelling its employee ranks and that, in the next four to five years, it will be potentially lifting its employment complement by a sizeable 50%, amounting to some 6 500 new jobs.

So, the positives and the negatives have to be taken at this time, hopefully in the spirit of the Masekela lyrics, which foster a preparedness to ‘lend a hand’, a wonderful sentiment that has been very late in coming.