South Africa doesn't believe its International Court of Justice (ICJ) bid against Israel will hamper efforts to sell itself as an investment destination when it meets some of that country's most powerful allies, such as the US, in Davos next week.

On Thursday, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said South Africa had consistently been at odds with the US over the Israel-Palestine issue since the advent of democracy in 1994 and did not expect its case in the ICJ to be an issue when the World Economic Forum (WEF) holds its annual meeting in the Swiss city from Monday.

Godongwana, who is the head of the South African delegation to Davos, was responding to questions from the media at a briefing following a pre-WEF business breakfast at the Hilton Hotel in Sandton.

The WEF, established in 1971, hosts political, business, cultural and other leaders every year in Davos with a view to shaping global and regional agendas.

As far as its ambitions for the 2024 iteration of the WEF, Godongwana did not mince words, saying the main aim of the delegation was to sell South Africa as an investment destination.

Responding to questions about the potential for trade fallout with Israel's allies, such as the US, at Davos, he said he did not believe the country's stance on Israel and its case accusing it of genocide against Palestinians would affect its investment prospects.

The minister added since South Africa became a democratic country in 1994 the single biggest area of disagreement between it and the US at the UN had been the Israel/Palestine question.

"Throughout, we have always been on opposing ends when it comes to voting on that question. It's historical.

"I don't think in any movement forward, we will be likely to find common ground on this issue with the Americans in particular. And I think we should respect the different viewpoints amongst ourselves."

Godongwana could also not see how South Africa's efforts to persuade the ICJ to order Israel to suspend military operations against Gaza could be held against it.

"Insofar as the court case is concerned, I do not know why people would have an attitude to a country that uses a multilateral institution for certain disputes because those multi-institutions are set up by the United Nations for dispute settlement."

He said he did not "see anybody likely to make this an issue in Davos".

Government 'aware' of SA's challenges

Notwithstanding South Africa's bid to attract more investment, Godongwana noted the government was acutely aware of the challenges facing the country, including electricity, logistics, crime, and corruption.

He said it had been working closely with business in "grappling with these questions", adding private-public committees had been set up to find solutions to these issues.

"We have been working together so it's not going to be difficult for us to partner and sell our message [at Davos] because we have developed strategies and road maps to deal with these issues."

As far as Transnet was concerned and its central role in South Africa's logistics crisis, Godongwana said his department was working with Transnet to get to "an understanding of the nature of the problem".

Asked about the possibility of further equity injections for Transnet, he said the government wanted to "avoid the Eskom template" of constantly injecting money without ensuring an improvement in efficiencies.

He noted half a trillion rand had been injected in Eskom, with nothing to show for it in the way of any improvement in efficiency.

Godongwana added a lot of time had been spent on trying to fix Eskom in the years since load shedding instead of "fixing power to the grid".

"Now we must avoid fixing Transnet to the exclusion of fixing the logistic issues."

Asked for more detail in an interview with News24 after the briefing, he reiterated the government could not simply continue throwing money at Transnet like it had previously done with Eskom.

Godongwana said the government "can't make the same mistake again", noting logistics were critical to South Africa's economic prospects.

"When you put that money into Transnet, we have got to find ways of extracting efficiencies."