Cape Town - Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur Mutambara has appealed to leaders attending the 19th World Economic Forum to lift sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe to help the country rebuild its economy.
"Sanctions in this juncture in our history are meaningless. Help us help ourselves by removing all those sanctions so Zimbabwe can have a fresh start," he told delegates on Friday at the close of the WEF.
Zimbabwe's cash-strapped African neighbors have failed to respond to its pleas for a $2 billion economic rescue package.
Investors from South Africa are waiting for the implementation of a new bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement before they move in.
"Zimbabwe doesn't have the luxury of time on its side," warned South African deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said he was determined to overhaul the country's central bank.
Mr Biti has clashed repeatedly with central bank governor Gideon Gono, who is a Mugabe ally, but has managed to push through key reforms, including ending Zimbabwe's hyperinflation and rampant black market by effectively replacing the Zimbabwe dollar with the US dollar.
Mr Biti said tax revenues did not begin to cover even basic salaries and that Zimbabwe's slumbering state-owned companies were a further drain on the economy.
But he said despite the huge problems, Zimbabwe also had massive potential with a highly educated population.
"We are fossilized and ossified in terms of the way we have been doing our thing. We need to raise Zimbabwe on another platform, we need to make it an African tiger," he said.
He predicted the Zimbabwe economy would grow by 4 percent this year, above the African average of 1.9 percent.
