Speaker, let me just correct the hon Davidson The Presidency purchased the vehicle. It's not my personal vehicle. It's a vehicle I use for official purposes. I made the selection of colour from a range of options, and that is the vehicle that we are talking about; that is the vehicle that I responded to on a question a fortnight ago.
That the vehicle is expensive in the context of what I said earlier, I can see that it is an error of judgment. Now, let me look at this issue further. I have evaluated - but let me also remind this House of what the hon Deputy President said last week. He said, in response to a question by the hon Leader of the Opposition:
These purchases were, in fact, planned and budgeted for. The purchases were not unethical in that they were not illegal or underhand. For these reasons, we do not intend to request the return of the vehicles. In any event, as the hon Leader of the Opposition is aware, a used car has far less resale value than a new car.
I have run the numbers, and the vehicle is now five months old. It has 6 700 kilometres on the clock. Vehicles depreciate very, very, very quickly and, in the current circumstance, probably would not find a buyer and so would be written down a lot more quickly. I have run the numbers and perhaps the hon George can assist - he's an actuary, I'm told - and you will see that continuing to argue that these vehicles should be returned does not actually make economic sense. Here is a decision. It was taken within the rules. I am saying that in my case it wasn't entirely well- advised, but the decision was taken, and it is one of those decisions that you live with.
The hon Buthelezi last week was exceedingly helpful to all of us in this House, when he said the point had been made, and he appealled to other opposition parties not to continue milking a cow that will not yield a drop more. The udder is empty. [Applause.] So, I think it is fundamentally important in the instance of this institution that we deal with the matter like that.
Finally, I'd like to say to the hon Davidson that if he and his party work exceedingly hard, they will move from that side of the House to this side of the House, and he might actually become the inheritor of this car. Thank you very much. [Applause.]