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Errol Musk
Born1946 (age 77–78)
Pretoria, Transvaal, Union of South Africa
Alma materUniversity of Pretoria
OccupationElectromechanical engineering consultant
Known forPretoria municipal politics,[failed verification] father of Elon Musk
Political partyProgressive Federal Party (resigned 1983)
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1970; div. 1979)​

Heide Bezuidenhout (div.)
Children7, including Elon, Kimbal, Tosca
FamilyMusk family

Errol Graham Musk (born 1946) is a South African retired electromechanical engineering consultant, former emerald mine co-owner, and former politician.[1][2] He is the father of business magnate and billionaire Elon Musk, restaurateur Kimbal Musk, and filmmaker Tosca Musk. He was married to Maye Musk.

In 1972, Musk was elected to Pretoria City Council, later resigning from the Progressive Federal Party in 1983.

Early life and education

Errol Graham Musk was born in 1946 in Pretoria[3] to father Walter Henry James Musk and mother Cora Amelia Musk (née Robinson).[4]: 52  His parents also gave birth to Errol's brother, Michael James.[5] His father was a sergeant in the South African Army who served in World War II.[1][4]: 52  His mother was born in England into a famously intellectual family.[4]: 52 

Musk attended Clapham High School, the University of the Witwatersrand, and the University of Pretoria, where he studied electromechanical engineering.[5]

Business career

Musk primarily worked as an electromechanical engineering consultant.[6][7]: 16  He specialised in retail and office property development,[8]: 27  and worked for Hyperama.[9] He holds South African patent number 0669 of 1996 for "Process and equipment to repair constant velocity joints."[10] Successful in his engineering,[7]: 16  he retired early.[11]

Musk part-owned an emerald mine on Lake Tanganyika[1][2] in Zambia that he said he bought for £40,000, that he said he funded by selling an airplane for £80,000.[12] In a 2018 interview with Business Insider, Musk stated that as a result of the emerald mine "we had so much money we couldn't even close our safe."[13][14] He told journalist and author Michael Vilsmas that he co-owned the mine for around five years, until 1989 when Russia started producing synthetic emeralds, crashing global prices.[7] In November 2022, Snopes debunked rumours linking the mine to slavery and apartheid, and linked to a 2009 article published in The New Yorker that referenced Musk's part ownership of the mine.[15]

Political career

In 1972, Musk was elected to the Pretoria City Council.[16] Aged 25, he was elected city councillor to represent Sunnyside, Pretoria.[7]: 52 

He was a member of the Progressive Federal Party (PFP)[7]: 52  and ran in the 1981 election to represent them in Sunnyside.[17]: 225, fn 119  He resigned from the party on September 29, 1983 in response to leadership instructions to vote No at the 1983 South African constitutional referendum on enabling Coloured and Indian South Africans to vote.[18][unreliable source?][a] News of his resignation was a October 4, 1983 front page story in Die Burger,[17]: 225, fn 119  which sought to highlight divisions within the PFP.[17]: 225  At the time, Die Burger served as a "mouthpiece" of pro-apartheid National Party, according to Nieman Reports.[19] Musk's resignation letter stated that he joined the PFP with an ambition to increase racial representation in national politics and the party leadership's direction ran counter to his ambitions.[18] [unreliable source?]

Notes

  1. ^ According to The Washington Post, "It was because of the exclusion of the blacks that the liberal Progressive Federal Party opposed the constitution" and "The new constitution will establish separate legislative chambers for mixed-race Coloreds and for Asians but continue to deny suffrage to the black majority."[20]

Family life

Ex-wife Maye Musk, 2023

Musk met Maye Haldeman when she was about 11 years old and they remained childhood friends and dated as young adults during their time at university.[21][7]: 44  After a period of being separated, Musk proposed to marry Haldeman. She initially rejected, but later agreed, with the couple marrying in 1970.[7]: 44 

Son, Elon Musk, 2018

They had three children: Elon Reeve Musk born on 28 June 1971, Kimbal Reeve Musk born on 20 September 1972, and Tosca Musk born on 20 July 1974.[22] The family lived in Pretoria,[21][23] where Maye worked as a dietician and a model[21][22] until Errol and Maye's divorce in 1979.[24] Their three children initially stayed with Maye,[22] and Elon and Kimbal later moved in with their father.[22][25]

Although both The Telegraph and Cosmopolitan reported in 2022 that Musk was married to Heide Bezuidenhout for eighteen years,[26][27] he said on Australian radio show The Kyle and Jackie O Show that the marriage only lasted two years.[27] During the relationship, Musk fathered two children with Bezuidenhout[27] and helped her raise Jana Bezuidenhout, her young daughter from a previous relationship.[28][26] At the start of their marriage, Jana was four years old and lived with the couple.[28]

Later in life, after splitting from Heide Bezuidenhout, Musk fathered two children with Jana (then his former stepdaughter); a son born in 2017 and a daughter born in 2019.[29] Musk described the first child as unplanned.[30] At the time of their daughter's birth Musk was 72 and Jana Bezuidenhout was 30 years old.[31][32] As of 2022, Musk and Jana Bezuidenhout were no longer living together.[30]

Son, Kimbal Musk, 2012

Musk has a total of seven children[33] and as of 2022, he is estranged from his son Elon.[13] As of May 2023, he lives in Langebaan.[34]

In 1995,[35] Musk gave $28,000 to Elon and Kimbal as they was starting up the software company Zip2.[8]: 56 [36]

In 1998, Musk shot and killed three out of six or seven burglars who forced their way into his home in Lone Hill, Johannesburg and who opened fire upon detection.[37][7]: 48  He was acquitted of all charges.[7]: 48 

Personal life

He has been both a keen a pilot and sailor[11][15] and has used Facebook to share conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines, the September 11 attacks, and aliens.[7]: 49 

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Hull, Dana; May, Patrick (20 April 2014). "Exploring the otherworldly ambitions of Elon Musk". Buffalo News. Archived from the original on 17 April 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  2. ^ a b Anna Crowley Redding, (2019). Elon Musk: A Mission to Save the World. United States: Feiwel & Friends.
  3. ^ Errol, padre de musk confirma segunda hija con su hijastra jana bezuidenhout. 2022. Publimetro, Jul 15, 2022. (accessed September 6, 2023). (in Spanish)
  4. ^ a b c Vance, Ashlee (2017). Elon Musk (in Portuguese). Eyrolles. p. 40. ISBN 9782212594379.
  5. ^ a b "Who exactly is Errol Musk - Elon Musk's father? His net worth, wife and children". Naija News. 15 April 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  6. ^ Naidoo, Alicia (24 January 2023). "Who is Errol Musk? Five things to know about Elon's SA father". The South African. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Vlismas, Michael (2022). Elon Musk: Risking it All. Jonathan Ball Publishers. ISBN 978-1776191857.
  8. ^ a b Ashlee, Vance (2017). Elon Musk and the quest for a fantastic future. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062463289.
  9. ^ "Elon Musk's University of Pretoria aptitude test showed extraordinary ability". MyBroadband. 3 March 2021.
  10. ^ Patent journal, including trade marks, designs, and copyright in cinematograph films. (March 1996). South Africa: Government Printer of South Africa. Volume 29, p149. Available from the New York Public Library
  11. ^ a b Hull, Dana; May, Patrick (20 April 2014). "Exploring the otherworldly ambitions of Elon Musk". Buffalo News. Archived from the original on 17 April 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  12. ^ Smith, Adam (28 October 2022). "How Elon Musk made his money - from emeralds to SpaceX and Tesla". The Independent. Archived from the original on 27 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  13. ^ a b Sager, Jessica (7 November 2022). "Who Is Elon Musk's Estranged Father? All About Errol Musk". People. Archived from the original on 24 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  14. ^ Wet, Phillip de (23 February 2018). "'We had so much money we couldn't even close our safe': Elon Musk's Dad tells BI about the family's insanely casual attitude to wealth". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  15. ^ a b Liles, Jordan (17 November 2022). "What We Know About Elon Musk and the Emerald Mine Rumor". Snopes. Archived from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  16. ^ Eligon, John; Chutel, Lynsey (5 May 2022). "Elon Musk Left a South Africa That Was Rife With Misinformation and White Privilege". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 11 November 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  17. ^ a b c Sussman, Gary (2003). The referendum in F.W. de Klerk's war of manoeuvre: An historical institutionalist account of the 1992 referendum (PDF) (PhD thesis). London School of Economics.
  18. ^ a b "Nee-stem laat Prog bedank". Die Burger. 4 October 1983. p. 1.
  19. ^ du Plessis, Tim (Winter 1998). "Newspaper Management Keeps Quiet About Its Role in Apartheid". Nieman Reports. Archived from the original on 8 September 2006.
  20. ^ Sparks, Allister (4 November 1983). "S. Africa Whites Back Wider Vote In Referendum". Washington Post. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  21. ^ a b c Kumar, Abhishek (1 January 2021). Elon Musk A Complete Biography. Prabhat Prakashan. ISBN 978-9355211347.
  22. ^ a b c d Holson, Laura M. (30 April 2016). "At 68, Maye Musk, the Mother of Elon, Is Reclaiming the Spotlight". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  23. ^ Dolan, Kerry A. (2 July 2015). "How To Raise A Billionaire: An Interview With Elon Musk's Father, Errol Musk". Forbes. Archived from the original on 3 July 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  24. ^ Higgins, Tim (2021). Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0385545457.
  25. ^ Friend, Tad (24 August 2009). "Plugged In". New Yorker. Vol. 85, no. 25. pp. 50–59.
  26. ^ a b Crilly, Rob (25 March 2018). "Elon Musk's father has baby with step-daughter he has known since she was four". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 26 April 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  27. ^ a b c Farah, Lynn (13 August 2022). "'Completely normal': Elon Musk's dad Errol on dating his stepdaughter". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
  28. ^ a b Biggs, Jade (16 July 2022). "Elon Musk's dad reveals he fathered an "unplanned" child with his stepdaughter". Cosmopolitan. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  29. ^ Sharma, Shweta (15 July 2022). "Elon Musk's father confirms second child with his own stepdaughter - report". The Independent. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  30. ^ a b Hasibuan, Linda (15 July 2022). "Ayah Elon Musk Punya Bayi dari Hubungan dengan Putri Tirinya". CNBC Indonesia (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 11 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  31. ^ Farah, Lynn (15 June 2022). "Meet Elon Musk's controversial father, Errol". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  32. ^ Ball, M., Kluger, J., Garza, A. D. L., Espada, M., Popli, N., & Zorthian, J. (2021). Visionary. Showman. Iconoclast. Troll. How Elon Musk Is Reshaping Our World—and Beyond. TIME Magazine, 198(23/24), 36–57. (p50)
  33. ^ Groß, Antonia (15 July 2022). "Errol Musk hat Kind mit Stieftochter: "Wir sind zum Fortpflanzen auf der Welt"". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  34. ^ "Elon's dad fuel's family feud". Cape Argus. 25 May 2018.
  35. ^ Koppelaar, Rembrant. The Tesla revolution : why big oil is losing the energy war. Amsterdam University Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-9462982062.
  36. ^ George, Ilian (2017). Top Visionaries Who Changed The World. Jaico Publishing House. p. 111. ISBN 9788184959567.
  37. ^ Strauss, Neil (15 November 2017). "Elon Musk: The Architect of Tomorrow". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 27 April 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
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