As US President Donald Trump flew into Zurich , in  Switzerland, the man likely to be South Africa’s next president flew out from the World Economic Forum in Davos. It was not the intention to miss Trump, Ramaphosa stressed during his visit to Davos, but it just so happened they missed each other.

Other African delegates to WEF said they were going to boycott Friday’s speech by Trump, but you could argue Ramaphosa had bigger matters on his mind – like the survival of the economy of the country of his birth.

Ramaphosa has every reason to be pleased with himself after a whirlwind week of meetings, with foreign investors, at the biggest economic gathering on earth. It went well according to the man himself and his Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba who claim hundreds of billions of dollars in investment – that was being held back by investors wary of corruption and political uncertainty – was now going to come flooding into South Africa.

“We are going home very happy with a bag full of millions of dollars worth of  investment commitments,” says Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa claims he will push his clean up campaign on his return to encourage more investors..

“Anyone found to have done corruption will find themselves behind the bars of a jail.” he says..

What a turn around for South Africa at Davos. A year ago many were having to argue the case for people to keep their money in South Africa; this year they have to be very clever with their timetables to fit everyone in who wants to talk investment.

“Everyone here.says we like what you are doing and keep going,” says Ramaphosa  with his trademark smile.

Ramaphosa has every reason to smile – for 25 years he has been a political nearly man – now on the crest of a wave of investor confidence he is on the cusp of real power.