[imagesource: Samantha Lowe]

Do the people of Langebaan know that the father of the world’s richest person lives in their hood?

Probably – that is the sort of news that spreads around a small town.

Errol Musk and his son, Elon, have had a rocky relationship over the years. Elon once described his father as “evil” and “a terrible human being”.

Errol responded by saying his son “needs to grow up… [and] get over himself”.

Perhaps they’re on better terms now and Errol has made a point of staying out of the media limelight since then. He did break his silence earlier in the week in an interview with AFP.

Errol said he raised his sons (Elon and his brother Kimbal) “as South African boys” and instilled in them the same discipline he learnt in the military:

“I was a strict father. My word was the law. They learnt from me,” the 76-year-old said.

He said that even as a pre-schooler, Elon had set his sights on becoming the wealthiest man alive, crediting that uber-macho “South African boy” upbringing with driving his ambition.

“It’s part of the way we lived, the way I lived. We strove to be the best we could.”

Elon’s ascent to becoming the world’s wealthiest person isn’t exactly a rags to riches story. Errol bought a half-share in a Zambian emerald mine in the 1980s, which proved to be very lucrative, funding the family’s lavish lifestyle of yachts, skiing holidays, and expensive computers.

From a young age, Errol says Elon preferred to sit with adults rather than other children. When one man laughed at Elon’s proclamation that he would become a millionaire, the youngster responded, “well, I think you’re stupid.”

Following Errol’s divorce from Maye, a Canadian model, Elon decided to live with his father:

“I go down to Johannesburg Station and there was this little Elon, beaming face, come up on the train by himself, nine years old,” his father recalled.

As previously mentioned, that relationship took a dive in later years but Errol says things have improved and “we care about each other”.

Errol moved Elon to Pretoria Boys High School after he was pushed down a staircase by a student, having made a hurtful comment about the suicide of that student’s father:

“Elon is a very caring person. He really means it when he says that he wants to save humanity. This is not a slogan or some sort of pitch. This is real.”

Errol recalls his 70th birthday as another example of Elon’s generosity.

“I’m a South African man. I’m not concerned about my birthday. But it was very nice,” said Errol.

The interview finished with Errol mentioning that he last saw his son in the flesh at that 70th birthday party. The topic of Errol’s support for Donald Trump came up (“They all had a good laugh at that, and how could I be so stupid as to support Trump?”) and he says they rarely talk on the phone.

So he hasn’t seen his son in six years and they don’t talk on the phone, either? Perhaps things aren’t all that rosy between them, and I might know why.

I’ve avoided mentioning this until the very end, but we should probably touch on the fact that Errol had a baby with his own stepdaughter.

This Business Insider SA article from 2018 describes the basics:

Errol is the father of a 10-month old baby son by his 30-year old stepdaughter.

Jana Bezuidenhout is the daughter of Errol’s ex-wife Heide. They were married for eighteen years, and have two daughters together. Bezuidenhout was four when they got married…

Errol confirmed… that Bezuidenhout is his girlfriend and that the baby is his.  According to the report, he said his family went “beserk” when they found out…

Relatives told the UK tabloid that Errol was the only father Bezuidenhout ever knew. Her biological father died when she was a toddler.

There’s something you don’t hear about every day.

Langebaan, hey?

[sources:afp&businsider]