Zimbabwe Appeals For More Investment

"Zimbabwe doesn't have the luxury of time on its side," warned South African deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti — who belongs to Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change — said he was determined to overhaul the country's central bank. 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 worthless Zimbabwe dollar with the U.S. dollar.

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.

Nigel Chinakira, a Zimbabwean business magnate, said the risks were high but the returns were even higher.