Spending on wives' cars: Cameron vs Zuma

David Cameron bought an old Micra over the weekend. Picture: Witney Used Car Centre via Facebook.

David Cameron bought an old Micra over the weekend. Picture: Witney Used Car Centre via Facebook.

Published May 25, 2016

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It was quite fitting that in the same week that news emerged that R8.6 million was spent on luxury vehicles to transport Jacob Zuma's wives, British Prime Minister David Cameron also hit the headlines in his country for a vehicle purchase made for his wife.

It seemed in stark contrast to news that had just unfolded in South Africa: In response to a question asked in Parliament on Tuesday, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko revealed that R8.6m of South African Police Service budget had been spent, over the past four years, on luxury vehicles to provide “comprehensive protection of VIP spouses”.

The vehicles included four Range Rovers, three Audi A6s, two Land Rover Discoverys and two Audi Q7s.

Poor Mrs Cameron, on the other hand, will have to settle for a 2004 Nissan Micra with 148 000km on the clock. According to The Independent, a used car salesman in Oxfordshire got the surprise of his life when David Cameron walked in with his body guards to inspect an old Micra that he intended to buy for his wife. No discount was given and the purchase was concluded the following day, at £1500 (R34 000). No reports of marital strife or couch-camping have emerged thus far.

Sure, there's no use pretending that David Cameron is a shining example of prudence and virtue - as this in all likelihood just a publicity stunt and the general public are unlikely to trust this gesture even nearly to the same degree as, say, former Uruguayan president Jose Mujica's ownership of a humble 1987 VW Beetle.

Blue 1987 VW Beetle, the car driven by the President of Uruquay, Jose Mujica pic.twitter.com/o3pHXpi6q6

— Roche Mamabolo (@rochemamabolo) May 10, 2015

Now there's an example of a humble president if ever there was one: Mujica, who was nicknamed the “world's poorest president” during his tenure between 2010 and 2015, is reputed to have used his Beetle as an everyday car and turned down a presidential palace to remain on his run-down farm. He also reportedly donated 20 percent of his salary to charity.

Yet even if you see right through Cameron's 'gesture', given that he still wafts around in a custom-made armoured Jaguar XJ Sentinel, he is nonetheless surely presenting a better example than his counterpart to the south.

What a used car dealer made of David Cameron https://t.co/RS5QUWcV9U

— The Independent (@Independent) May 24, 2016

David Cameron is out here pretending to do normal people things like grocery shopping & buying a used Nissan Micra 😂 pic.twitter.com/rxnilpXKSf

— Sibongile Mafu (@sboshmafu) May 24, 2016

Motoring.co.za

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