Errol Musk | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Musk in 2025 | |
| Member of Pretoria City Council | |
| In office 1972–1983 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Errol Graham Musk (1946-05-25)25 May 1946 (age 79) |
| Party | Independent (1972–1980) Progressive Federal Party (1980–1983) |
| Spouse(s) | Sue Musk (divorced) |
| Domestic partner | Jana Bezuidenhout |
| Children | 7, includingElon,Kimbal, andTosca |
| Alma mater | University of Pretoria |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | South Africa |
| Branch | |
| Years of service | 1964–1975 |
Errol Graham Musk (born 25 May 1946) is a South African businessman, politician, and the patriarch of theMusk family.[1] He was anIndependent member ofPretoria City Council from 1972 to 1980 and then as a member ofProgressive Federal Party from 1980 to 1983. As a businessman, he has worked as amechanical engineering consultant, developed properties, and invested in various ventures including emerald trading.
Musk marriedMaye Haldeman in 1970, and they had three children:Elon,Kimbal andTosca. Haldeman divorced him in 1979, saying he was abusive. He has since had two other marriages and four other children. His son Elon is thewealthiest person in the world.[2]
Errol Graham Musk was born on 25 May 1946 inPretoria, in theTransvaal province of theUnion of South Africa, toWalter Henry James Musk and Cora Amelia Musk (née Robinson). His father was anEnglish-speaking white South African and his mother was English fromLiverpool. He is primarily of British ancestry.[3]
Musk attendedClapham High School inQueenswood, where he began a relationship withMaye Haldeman,[4] whom he married in 1970.[5] The family lived in Pretoria, where Maye worked as a dietitian and a model.[4] Their first child,Elon Reeve Musk, was born on 28 June 1971, named after Maye's grandfather J. Elon Haldeman, with Reeve being her maternal grandmother's maiden name.[4][1] Musk served in theBurgermag for 11 years, where he claimed to reached the rank of officer before retiring in 1975.[6]
On 9 March 1972, Musk was elected as anindependent to representSunnyside on Pretoria City Council.[7][5][8][9] In 1980[10] he became a member of theProgressive Federal Party, the new official opposition formed in 1977, and ran as their Sunnyside nominee in the 1981 election.[5][11] In 1983 his resignation from the PFP over its stance towards theconstitutional referendum was front-page news for the rulingNational Party's organDie Burger, which portrayed the opposition as divided.[11][12] Musk rebelled against the PFP's call for rejecting thenew constitution and cited his agreement with theNew Republic Party's position that theTricameral Parliament was a step in the right direction.[10]
Musk studiedelectromechanics at theUniversity of Pretoria, worked as an electrical and mechanical engineering consultant, and developed properties,[1] especially retail and office property development. His lucrative engineering business took on "large projects such as office buildings, retail complexes, residential subdivisions, and an air force base." He also owned an auto parts store, at least half a share in an emerald mine, and even "one of the biggest houses in Pretoria."[13] His ex-wife Maye's book recalls that at the time of their divorce in 1979, he owned two homes, a yacht, a plane, five luxury cars, and a truck.[14]
In the early 1980s, Errol built a lodge in theTimbavati Game Reserve to rent to tourists.[9]
In 1986, he acquired rights to the output of threeZambianemerald mines, though he did not own the mines themselves. In interviews withWalter Isaacson he explained, "If you registered it, you would wind up with nothing, because the Blacks would take everything from you",[9] He later referred to his wealth during Elon's teen years in an interview withBusiness Insider South Africa, saying he had "so much money we couldn't even close our safe" and mentioned his emerald dealings.[15][16]Snopes confirmed that at some point he owned "a stake in an emerald mine nearLake Tanganyika in Zambia."[17] He once described his emerald mine as an "under the table" operation.[18]
According to the 2015 biography of Elon Musk,Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, in 1995 Errol Musk gave US$28,000 to Elon and Kimbal as they were starting up the software companyZip2.[19] Elon has denied receiving the money from his father.[19] In 1998, Errol Musk shot and killed three armed intruders at one of his properties inJohannesburg.[20]
In a January 2025 video interview, Errol Musk stated that governance in South Africa has deteriorated.[21]
In January 2025, Musk endorsed ameme coin called "Musk It" and revealed that he planned to raise $200 million for the Musk Institute via this project.[22][23]
In February 2025, Musk arranged a phone call between his son Elon and the president of South Africa,Cyril Ramaphosa, during which the two discussed the impact ofDonald Trump's policies on South Africa.[24] In April 2025, Musk praisedVladimir Putin, the president of Russia, in an interview withBBC News Russian. He said, "it would be foolish not to admire Putin." He also implied Russia was not responsible for thewar in Ukraine, and claimed his entire family supported Putin.[25]
In June 2025, Errol Musk visited theRam Mandir inAyodhya, India, with his daughter Alexandra, calling it "one of the best things I’ve ever done." He was also named Global Advisor to the Indian companyServotech Power Systems and took part ingreen energy initiatives during his visit.[26][27] Also in June 2025, Musk participated as a speaker at theForum of the Future 2050 inMoscow, a conference organised by the Russian television channelTsargrad and its chairmanKonstantin Malofeev; the guests also included the Russian foreign ministerSergey Lavrov, the economistJeffrey Sachs and the conspiracy theoristAlex Jones.[28][29]
In November 2025, during an interview onCNN withDonie O'Sullivan in a documentary about a supposedwhite genocide in South Africa, Musk expressed his opinion that the United States is "doomed" because it will have a majority non-white population within the next 20 years, proclaiming "You want to go back to the jungle?". Musk also denied that blacks were oppressed during theapartheid era in South Africa and credited whites with "feeding" the black population and giving them work.[30]
In 1979, Musk and his wife Maye divorced.[4][31] In her memoir, Maye characterised her marriage as abusive and alleged Errol had been violent.[32] She recounts a time during their divorce when she sought refuge at a neighbour's home after Errol showed up with a knife looking for her.[14] After the divorce, Musk repeatedly sued his ex-wife for custody of their children.[14] He was briefly married to a woman named Sue.[14]
In the early 1990s, Errol, then aged 45, married Heide Bezuidenhout, a 25-year-old he described as "one of the best-looking women I've ever seen in my life."[33] He had two daughters with Bezuidenhout.[34]
In March 2018, it was reported that Musk had fathered a child with his adult step-daughter, Heide's daughter Jana Bezuidenhout.[34][35] In July 2022, he gave an interview to the tabloid newspaperThe Sun, announcing that he and Bezuidenhout had another child.[36][37] Musk has a total of seven children, according toPeople magazine in November 2022.[15] He once commented, "The only thing we are on Earth for is to reproduce."[38]
In 2022, Musk stated he was "not proud" of Elon.[39] In 2024, he defended Elon after the latter said that the United Kingdom was heading towards acivil war.[40] In January 2025, he defended his son's remarks but also urged people to ignore them.[41]
In September 2025,The New York Times published an article alleging that "a significant factor in Elon Musk's rupture with his father stems from accusations against Errol Musk ofchild sexual abuse."[42] The earliest accusation of abuse came in 1993, when Musk's stepdaughter told relatives that he had touched her inappropriately.[43]
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Media related toErrol Musk at Wikimedia Commons
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