Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa sought to deliver a message of hope as he addressed the country delegation at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday.

Likening 2016 to the flight over to Switzerland, Ramaphosa said there had been turbulence but South Africa had managed to come through the worst of it.

“When we were coming over in our plane we had periods of turbulence, periods of turbulence the pilot had warned us about, but also periods of turbulence the pilot hadn’t warned us about and it was quite worrying,” Ramaphosa said.

He said that the South African delegation eventually enjoyed a smooth flight to Zurich.

“In many ways, this for me, illustrates what we went through last year. Last year our country went through a lot of turbulence, and some of us were extremely worried about the turbulent events, but a number of us kept feeling this is a plane, this is South Africa’s plane and we will get to our destination.”

Ramaphosa told the South African delegation which included a number of cabinet ministers, such as Rob Davies of Trade and Industry, Ebrahim Patel of Economic Development, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, and Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe, as well as business luminaries such as Patrice Motsepe, Dr Johan van Zyl, and Maria Ramos that South Africa had emerged from a turbulent year and that he had no doubt that 2017 would usher in a much more stable environment, especially around the economy.

“We are, of course, like many other countries, facing slow growth, but what is important for us is that we were able during the past year and the previous year able to withstand quite a lot of the challenges we faced and we need to remain focused on fostering economic growth and ensure the economic growth that we should have as South Africa, is inclusive.”