Almost 200,000 Zimbabweans have come home from South Africa amid a wave of hostility towards foreign nationals there, according to figures presented to Cabinet this week. The government says the flow has now slowed markedly.

NewZimbabwe.com, NewsDay and 263Chat all report the same government numbers, drawn from the Cabinet briefing on Tuesday. They put the total at 197,294 returnees. Of these, 42,553 were assisted by the state, as at 6 October, while 154,741 made their own way back without government help.

The government-assisted group is made up of 10,475 men, 13,631 women, 9,001 boys and 9,446 girls. In other words, roughly 24,000 adults and 18,000 children have been brought home through official channels.

The reports describe the returns as a response to attacks on foreign nationals by vigilante groups in South African cities. NewsDay frames those who came back as people fleeing xenophobic violence.

At the post-Cabinet press briefing, the government said returns of both assisted and self-repatriated Zimbabweans had “significantly declined”. Officials said they would keep monitoring the situation and were ready to respond if another surge in arrivals occurs.

The figures are the government’s own and have not been independently verified. The self-repatriated number in particular reflects what authorities have recorded, and the reports do not explain in detail how every returnee was counted.

Sources: NewZimbabwe.com, NewsDay, 263Chat (via allAfrica).

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.