Foreign-owned businesses operating in sectors reserved for Zimbabweans face having their licences suspended or revoked, the government said after Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, as it moves from awareness campaigns to enforcement.

According to both The Herald and NewZimbabwe.com, inspections covered more than 3,000 companies across all 10 provinces. Cabinet was told that most foreign operators had not regularised their status despite campaigns and formal non-compliance notices. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the briefing said, will suspend or revoke the operating licences of non-compliant businesses in reserved sectors.

The rules come from Statutory Instrument 215 of 2025, gazetted in December 2025, which reserves 17 sectors for Zimbabwean citizens. Thirteen are reserved exclusively for locals, including borehole drilling, clearing and customs, tobacco grading, estate agencies and artisanal mining. In four others, retail and wholesale, haulage and logistics, grain milling, and shipping and forwarding, foreign firms may take part only through exemptions or regularisation plans. Retail and brick moulding were cited as areas where foreign players still have a large presence.

Both outlets reported the same compliance figures: 693 formal applications received; 269 foreign operators applying to regularise by transferring 75 percent of equity to Zimbabwean citizens; 144 entities seeking confirmation of their local status; and 63 entities qualifying for statutory exemption by meeting investment thresholds or being recognised international brands. The reports do not explain how these categories relate to the 693 total.

The reports differ on who spoke at the briefing. NewZimbabwe names Information Minister Soda Zhemu, while The Herald names Acting Information Minister Prof Paul Mavima and credits Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu with the compliance update. Neither says how many licences have so far been withdrawn, what penalties will apply, or when enforcement begins.

Sources: The Herald (via Zimbabwe Situation); NewZimbabwe.com.

The Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA) says it has fully repaid a US$206 million loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), closing a debt that has weighed on the roads authority for years.

Board chairperson George Manyaya announced the repayment at ZINARA’s 10th annual general meeting in Harare. According to both The Herald and NewZimbabwe.com, the final payment was made on 30 September. “We no longer owe DBSA; we finished paying,” NewZimbabwe quoted him as saying.

The loan was secured in 2011 to fund the rehabilitation and upgrading of the Plumtree–Bulawayo–Harare–Mutare highway, one of the country’s main trade corridors. The two outlets give slightly different lengths for the road, so this report does not quote a figure.

The debt had repeatedly drawn scrutiny from Parliament. NewZimbabwe reported that Manyaya said the Public Accounts Committee had questioned ZINARA several times over the unpaid loan, and that clearing it was a priority for the current board because it stood in the way of raising further funding. The Herald reported that the repayment was presented as evidence that Zimbabwe honours its sovereign obligations and should help rebuild its credibility with lenders and unlock funding for infrastructure.

ZINARA collects road-user revenue, including licence and toll fees, and channels it to the maintenance and rebuilding of roads. With the DBSA obligation settled, the agency is expected to have more room to finance road works and to approach financiers, although neither report sets out specific new funding arrangements agreed on the strength of the repayment.

For motorists and transporters, the practical test will be whether the money once used to service the debt now translates into visible repairs on the country’s busiest routes.

Sources: The Herald (via Zimbabwe Situation); NewZimbabwe.com.

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.