Okay, where do I start
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I put asterisks around *sponsor* as a caveat to prevent people from misinterpreting my use of it. And I did explain at the bottom of that post that DV petitions are self sponsored and do not require a sponsor like other immigrant petitions.
The US government does not want immigrants who will come in and become dependent on the government for support - this is otherwise known as becoming a public charge. At the time of the interview the CO is required to confirm that an applicant will not become a public charge and the applicant can overcome his by showing that they have enough personal savings that they will be bringing to the US to help them get started. If the applicant does not have enough money of their own then the CO is required to ask then to present an AOS rather than out rightly deny the application. The US based person providing the applicant with the AOS then becomes known as the sponsor.
Now in the case of the Addis Ababa embassy I don't know if all DV applicants are generally required to present an affidavit or they're even asked to show any kind prove regarding financial strength at all, you will have to confirm what the practice is from those who have actually gone through the experience there and not what people on the streets or some agency are saying.
If the person willing to provide the affidavit is not a tax payer or does not meet a certain minimum income level, they do not qualify to act as sponsors. You do not need to ask them if they pay their taxes or not, just present them with the instruction on how to fill the form and if they do not have the required documents then they will let you know in which case you need to find someone else.
Yikes! This has turned out to be such a long winded post
