Yes, we are in one of the ice age interim periods and we will probably delay the next one (due 50,000 years or so from now) with all this heating.
South Africa is an industrialized nation so there's not many precious commodities to bring out. That would be more like DR Congo. After 10 years of Jacob Zuma's presidency sadly the economy looks bleak and they struggle to keep up the GDP - I talked to a lot of people and many of them were immigrants from as far of as Senegal and Ethiopia which adds to problem with unemployment. So compared to our Danish Crowns the Rand is pretty cheap.