The taxman cometh

Editor | Tuesday September 14, 2010 00:00

This country has many rich people some of whom conveniently ignore their obligations and duties inspite of the age-old injunction on all citizens to 'give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar'.  We are privileged to welcome BURS to waking life!Two weeks ago, the hateful taxman locked up popular Gaborone nightclub owner, Chez Ntemba, for failure to pay his dues over several years.  This past week, the bogeyman of artful dodgers leaned hard on a panel beater's company for similar offences.  However, we note that in a country that is often unwilling to punish the rich, these two cases are the tip of the iceberg.  Many more are out there who continue to cook their books in order to present only a fraction of the shinplasters they rake in to the taxman, while much of the loot is squirreled away in overseas bank accounts or the native countries of foreign investors.  Well, the scoundrels should benefit from this fair warning, though they do not deserve it.  They would do well to plug the gaping holes against their bad names in the taxman's book and so redeem themselves and their businesses.

Once again, we applaud the taxman and say more power to your elbow!  But even as we say this, we cannot ignore a nagging fear that these praiseworthy efforts could be short-lived.  Yet BURS cannot afford to let this happen because there are much bigger fish out there to catch.  And catch them the taxman must, for therein lies a measure of relief for the countless Batswana who sleep under the stars on a hungry stomach.

                                                               Labour  relationsThis past week, yet another sad tale of employee abuse was reported.  The regularity with which these stories have come to us over the years is growing, as is the impunity that accompanies them.

 While we understand that investors are crucial to the development of our country, we have to pause to re-think our strategies because they appear to attract small-minded characters for whom workers are worse than a necessary evil among several factors of production.  We must ask ourselves why we fail to attract investors who will understand that our relatively young democracy extends certain rights to workers and promotes positive labour relations.

 We call upon the Chinese Embassy to learn from these incidents so that Batswana do not develop a negative attitude towards their citizens working and living among us.  But while the incident in question involves the Chinese, we note that it is not peculiar to them.  Far from it, South Africans of a particular breed stand out in this regard.  Observers say so opprobrious is the situation that they describe it as apartheid being exported to Botswana alongside consumer goods in proportion to the growth of South Africa's BEE or Black Economic Empowerment.

                                                                  Today's thought'The difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is the thickness of a prison wall.'

                                                                  -  Denis Healey