Posted on 12/10/2012 6:29:38 PM PST by nickcarraway
LOBAMA – Swaziland is looking at witch-doctors to help raise government revenues and secure the country’s fiscal position.
On December 10th a proposal was raised in the parliament of Swaziland by Majahodvwa Khumalo, a national MP, to raise the taxes and annual fees paid by the country’s traditional healers, soothsayers and witch-doctors.
Majahodvwa Khumalo said that a majority of people in Swaziland choose to consult with traditional healers instead of doctors, but “…the money they [the healers] pay to government falls far too short of the money they make.”
The MP explained that the healers, known locally as sangomas, are required to pay an annual fee of SZL 10, but in the last several years they had routinely increased their service fees by as much as 400 percent without having to face any corresponding rise in their tax obligations.
Currently Swaizland is in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund regarding a potential bailout loan, as the country’s budget deficit now stands at an estimated 15 percent of the national GDP.
So far the country has been denied a bailout loan due to the government’s reluctance to decrease superfluous spending on the national military and on the household of the reigning monarch King Mswati III.
I’ve done mission trips to Swaziland 7 times since 2007. This story barely scratches the surface of the issues that affect this nation. Some of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met, living in country completely messed up politically, economically, and (most of all) spiritually.
“LOBAMA”
Of course. LOL
Lobama? You beat me to it. Is that a corruption of LOL-Bama?
Ooh eeh ooh aah aah
Ting tang wallawalla bingbang
Ooh eeh ooh aah aah
Ting tang wallawalla bingbang
Somehow I knew that was coming, lol.
And SZL 10 translates into how many sacrificial chickens?
(I also need to get my reading glasses checked because I first was left wondering about how pervasive could this problem be in Swizterland?)
Don’t tell me.
If they don’t hike taxes on the witch doctors, they’ll fall off the fiscal cliff.
“Don’t tell me.
If they don’t hike taxes on the witch doctors, they’ll fall off the fiscal cliff.”
On the other hand, if they do tax the witch doctors, their b*lls and such will drop off.
That’s more than our doctors can do when abused by the taxman.
Don’t mess with witch doctors.
The SZL is a Swaziland Lingeni or commonly referred to in the nation as “Emelengani”. It is pegged to the South Afrrican Rand; the current exchange rate is 8.6 Rand for $1. This is in a nation where 2/3rds of the peple live on 15-20 emelengani a day...or less.
A full sized chicken can be bought for around 30 emelengani.
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