Speaking at a South African reception in Davos on Tuesday, finance minister Tito Mboweni promised that the South African delegation would not be doing spin at the World Economic Forum (WEF), "because if you spin you might trip", he quipped.
But some positive messaging was clearly needed in what was, by all accounts, a difficult Davos for the SA team, with the Ramaphoria of the previous two years having evaporated and growing scepticism about SA's willingness or ability to deliver on the structural reforms it has promised to boost growth.
As one CEO put it, the message from potential investment partners was: "You're on our radar. We see plenty of potential. Come back to us when you do something."
The approach of Team SA, broadly speaking, was to acknowledge that the country needed structural reforms but to point to the progress it was making, albeit slowly.
Speaking at a press conference as the WEF ended on Friday, Mboweni said Eskom was the key issue he'd been questioned about on the sidelines, along with fiscal sustainability and what steps SA was taking to ensure it could manage its public debt.
His response on Eskom was that the utility had a dynamic new CEO and the government had developed a multipronged energy strategy involving Eskom and renewable energy in the generation mix, which would stabilise power supply in the medium to long term. On fiscal issues, detail would be provided in the budget on February 26.
But, said Mboweni, who attended his first WEF at Davos in 1991: "If you come here with the hope of signing big investment deals you've come to the wrong place. At Davos we exchange ideas, debate issues, have conversations and make friendships which might in the long term translate into investment.
"Davos gives us the opportunity to continue the conversation about our country and learn what other countries are doing – and learn from global intellectuals."
Investment envoy and Liberty chair Jacko Maree said whereas the previous two WEFs had had the hype of Ramaphoria, this year SA had a lower profile and "really got down to business". Meetings indicated there was particular interest from international investors in SA's renewable energy opportunities. Maree also noted that Davos followed Monday's UK-Africa Investment Summit, where SA was well represented.
SA had just three cabinet ministers in attendance and fewer CEOs than in previous years, reflecting austerity measures.
Some of the CEOs at Davos this week felt SA's profile was rather too low, with hardly any non-South Africans at Tuesday evening's reception and relatively poor attendance at a dialogue with investors on Wednesday.
A group of bank CEOs have informally offered to work with Brand SA and use their resources, networks and expertise in arranging international investor meetings to help fly the flag more effectively next time.
International relations minister Naledi Pandor confirmed that there had been such an offer and that the government would take the CEOs up on it.
The one visible South African presence in the streets of Davos was that of Absa, which took over and rebranded a hotel bar on the Promenade, alongside others such as Nasdaq and the government of Ukraine, hosting a large party on Thursday attended by the CEOs of all its competitors as well as several of its clients in SA and elsewhere in Africa.
Absa's Africa head, Peter Matlare, said it was part of the banking group's investment in launching its brand across Africa, as it completes the separation from former UK parent Barclays begun three years ago.
The WEF closed on Friday with a plenary session on the global economic outlook which saw a run-in between European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde and US treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin on climate change.
