Money sent home by Zimbabweans living abroad is running well ahead of last year, according to two separate reports on this year’s inflows.

The Herald, citing Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe data, reported on 16 October that remittances totalled about US$1.859 billion between January and August 2026. That compares with US$1.520 billion in the same eight months of 2025, a rise of 22 percent, or roughly US$339 million.

The financial outlet Equity Axis, writing on 27 August, put remittances at US$1.62 billion for January to July, up 24 percent year on year. The two reports cover different periods, so the totals differ, but they are consistent with each other and point the same way: inflows from the diaspora are growing by more than a fifth.

Equity Axis presented remittances as one of the main supports for Zimbabwe’s foreign currency position, alongside exports of gold, platinum and tobacco. It said the Reserve Bank had identified stronger export earnings and diaspora inflows as drivers of an improved current account. It did not name the source of its remittance figure.

Both outlets also raised the question of what the money does once it arrives. Equity Axis argued for a target to channel a share of remittances into investment, a view it presented as its own rather than an official position.

For families, remittances remain a major source of household income. For the government, the flows are an increasingly important source of foreign currency at a time when reserves are thin.

Sources: The Herald (via Zimbabwe Situation), citing Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe data; Equity Axis.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has registered Bard Santner Microfinance Bank Limited as a deposit-taking microfinance institution, paving the way for a bank aimed squarely at Zimbabweans and other Africans living abroad, according to reports by ZimLive and The Herald.

Both outlets cite an RBZ notice saying the registration took effect on 1 October 2026. The licence allows the bank to accept savings deposits, extend consumer and mortgage credit, provide money transmission services, offer leasing, and issue and administer payment instruments, among other activities.

The bank’s managing director, Ngonidzashe Chikowore, said the focus will be diaspora remittances, building on the group’s existing money transfer business, TX Money Transfer. The Bard Santner group has offices in Harare, Johannesburg and New York.

Chikowore said the bank does not intend to be “just another start-up bank” and argued that smaller, technology-driven institutions can compete with larger banks through speed and customer experience. He described a platform where a nurse in Manchester or a restaurant worker in Johannesburg could send money home, or fund a business in Harare or Bulawayo, as easily as paying a utility bill.

Group chief executive Senziwani Sikhosana said the licence is a milestone for Zimbabweans and others who live in more than one country, and that the aim is to help the diaspora save and invest, not only send money.

The plans described so far are the company’s own intentions. The reports do not give a firm date for when customer services will open, and readers should treat the product ideas as proposals until the bank launches them.

Sources: ZimLive, The Herald, citing a Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe notice and Bard Santner executives.

A 54-year-old Zimbabwean truck driver has been convicted in South Africa and ordered to pay a R10 million fine or serve five years in prison after illicit cigarettes worth more than R10.4 million were found in his tanker at the Musina-Beitbridge border post.

The Hawks, South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, said Godknows Mangani Demanyundo was sentenced by the Giyani Magistrate’s Court. He was arrested on 10 June 2025. Hawks spokesperson Colonel Avele Fumba said the case began when a South African Revenue Service (SARS) cargo analyst spotted suspicious images during routine scanning and alerted a team leader, who notified the police.

A joint physical inspection by South African Police Service and Border Management Authority officials then found 500 master boxes, seven cartons and six packets of Chelsea cigarettes, valued at more than R10.4 million, according to the Hawks. Local Criminal Record Centre members documented the evidence before the arrest, and the Hawks took over the investigation.

Besides the fine, the court ordered the cigarettes, the truck and the tanker trailer used to carry them forfeited to the state. Demanyundo was also declared unfit to possess a firearm.

The Hawks’ Limpopo head, Major General Gobz Govender, praised the agencies involved and said an arrest is not the end of an investigation, adding that the Hawks would follow the evidence wherever it led.

The conviction was reported by IOL, The Herald and NewZimbabwe.com, the last of which carried a report from The Citizen. The Herald said the driver was convicted on Tuesday; IOL reported that the Hawks confirmed the conviction on Wednesday.

Sources: Hawks statement as reported by IOL, The Herald and NewZimbabwe.com (citing The Citizen).