---. In that way, Errol might be like estranged Elon after all. D'Innocenzio, Anne. The emerald mine was not mentioned in that interview. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Britannica.com, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zip2. Fortier, Alexander. He's the son of Maye Musk, a model and dietitian from Canada, and Errol Musk, a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, and sailor. All About Errol Musk." Reich, theformer secretary of labor under U.S. President Bill Clinton and a professor of public policy at University of California, Berkeley, had tweeted,"Elon Musk came from a family that owned an emerald mine in apartheid South Africa." I wish. It was that lifestyle, Errol says, that turned Elon into the kind of merchant adventurer who would later break the rules of the motoring business with Tesla, then go on to change spaceflight with SpaceX. Given Elon Musks interest in exploration and adventure, its no surprise he descends from intrepid stock, and its Errols side of the family that is seemingly responsible for his innovative, envelope-pushing genes. Copyright Blue Sky Publications Ltd. All Rights Reserved. ". I've tried everything. In addition, they offered Errol a chance to buy partial ownership of a Zambian emerald mine. It is often claimed that Musk's father, Errol Musk, once owned shares in a Zambian emerald mine, and that Musk subsequently enjoyed an . Jana was 4 years old when Errol married her mother, Heide Bezuidenhout though he claims that he didn't consider Jana his stepdaughter, as she primarily grew up separate from the Musks. Musk replied, linking to Jeremy Arnolds article, which gave Musks side of the story. Musk's revelation about his father's financial situation in the '90s comes after a Berkeley professor and former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, claimed on Twitter that 'self-made billionaires' are a myth and Musk came from a family that owned an emerald mine in Apartheid South Africa. Errol has long since retired from the engineering business and now lives a quiet life in the Western Cape in South Africa. He attended Queens University in Canada. With a net worth of $37 billion, Musk hopes to revolutionize transportation on Earth and in space, bringing fully-electric vehicles to the mass market through his auto manufacturing company, Tesla. ", In 2018, he explained that he was helping Jana get over a breakup at the time of Rushi's conception, but he initially assumed the baby's father was Jana's ex. So I became a half owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years., When the Tesla CEO was around 16 years old, he and his brother Kimbal sold two emeralds to Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue in New York City while Errol snoozed, according to what Musk's father told Business Insider South Africa. According to Ashlee Vances 2017 biography of the Tesla founder, The Musk family owned one of the biggest houses in Pretoria thanks to the success of Errols engineering business, which included large projects such as office buildings, retail complexes, residential subdivisions, and an air force base.. Ive tried everything. I couldnt even afford a 2nd PC at Zip2, so programmed at night & website only worked during day. In 2019, a Twitter user claimed that Musk's father Errol owned an emerald mine. He said that he sold and traded these emeralds himself and that at one point, Elon himself even went out to sell some of the stones. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done.". Aside from that hes just dumb. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. According to a Facebook post from Errol, the Zambian emerald mine he held a stake in "collapsed in 1989. In 1970, Errol married modelMaye Haldeman Musk before the pair welcomed three children: Elon, Kimbal and Tosca. Errol and his stepdaughter, Jana Bezuidenhout, share two children. . 2021, https://savingjournalism.substack.com/p/i-talked-to-elon-musk-about-journalism. @spylinen tweeted, The mine was in Zambia, which became independent of the UK in 1964. Elon Musk (~16 years old) & Kimbal Musk sold gems from the Zambian emerald mine to world-famous "Tiffany & Co." on Fifth Avenue in New York - one of the world's most famous jewelers. At the conference, Elon talked to some professors who told Errol, This boy needs to get his hands on one of these computers. Errol was elected to the Pretoria City Council in 1972 and was an outspoken advocate for abolishing apartheid. The wealth earned from the investment in the mine was quantified to be about $400,000 USD, taking into account inflation when Arnold's piece was written in 2021, according to Errol. In the biography Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, author Ashlee Vance wrote that Errol invested $28,000 in Elon and Kimbal's then-fledgling company, Zip2. This is a pretty awful lie. The Tesla CEO once called his South African dad 'evil' and denied rumours of family wealth fuelled by an emerald mine - but are they ready to reconcile? He said that they stopped in Djibouti to avoid pricey airport fees, and there happened to meet some Italian merchants who offered to buy the plane from him then and there. "'His Family Stole an Emerald Mine.'" "I was active in opposing the National Party and their apartheid," he said in the post." We sent these messages on Nov. 16, but did not receive responses before publishing this story on the following day. Elon clarified that his father was never physically abusive toward him and that he once tried to mend the relationship by inviting his father to live with him in the United States. ANC accuses De Ruyter of ruining its good name and reputation, BREAKING: Chiefs confirm another MASSIVE injury blow. Still, Elon's tweets leave just enough room for Errol's story to be accurate, even if the inferences about his family's wealth are not. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. Here's a summary of our findings: We located reporting from as far back as 2009 and 2014 that said when Elon Musk ("Elon" hereafter) was a child in South Africa in the 1980s, his father ("Errol" hereafter) at some point owned "a stake in an emerald mine" near Lake Tanganyika in Zambia, not South Africa. [17] Later in life, after splitting from Heide Bezuidenhout, he fathered two children with her daughter (his former step-daughter) Jana Bezuidenhout; a son born in 2017 and a daughter born in 2019. He continued: He grabbed some weapons, as you could see on the cameras there were some intruders that were coming over the walls, and they were also armed. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done. I left South Africa by myself when I was 17 with just a backpack & suitcase of books. You could tell by the way that he told the story. However, both Elon and . Recently, Elon Musk had to set the record straight on a narrative spun over three years ago about his family owning an emerald mine in South Africa. However, any reconciliation was apparently short-lived. This article is actually accurate: https://t.co/eVpCX9V1NB. Friend, Tad. SpaceX, his rocket company, is valued at $20 billion-plus. Not all the tweets were supportive of Elon. Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 74: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin returns for a new season of the GHOGH podcast to discuss Bitcoin, bubbles, and Biden. Errol admitted to having affairs, but his ex-wife, now a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model, said the problems in their marriage extended beyond infidelity, alleging that Errol was abusive. Errol and Heide had two children of their own, but he also helped raise Jana. Clearly, Elon Musk doesn't like being mocked. Errol Musk (born 1946) is a South African electromechanical engineer, pilot, sailor, consultant, and property developer who was once a co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine near Lake Tanganyika. Jeff Bezos' garage-based start was funded by a quarter . Elon Musk addressed the recent social storm when claims related his family's emerald mines in apartheid-South Africa resurfaced online. I couldn't find my passport so I ended up grabbing my brother's which turned out to be six months overdue! On their way to England, Errol and his copilot got word that their original flight plan was going to cost a lot of money. "The Man Who's Revolutionizing The Future Of Driving -- And The Universe." All the Musk siblings did well, Forbes reported. A common story about Musk on social media is that his father owned part of an emerald mine, providing a bedrock of wealth that buoyed Elon up to his current level of success. Errol Musk said he bought half of an emerald mine after selling a plane. The Daily Mail has reported that Errol was a multimillionaire before the age of 30. The rumor of the "apartheid emerald mine" received a spike in shares around the time that Elon Musk completed his takeover of Twitter in late 2022. Heres his story. Instead, we will concentrate on the two Business Insider South Africa articles mentioned by Arnold that appeared to provide the roots of the "apartheid emerald mine" rumor. Elon Musk isn't innovative. There was a shooting in the living room, and I guess his father shot them dead. [3][4], Musk worked as a pilot, a sailor, an electrical engineer, a mechanical engineer, a consultant, and a property developer, before retiring early. On March 25, 2021, Elon Musktweetedthat the emerald mine inheritance rumor was false, and that he had arrived by himself in Canada in 1989 "with ~CA$2,500." Regardless of your opinion of him, he is aself-made billionaire." It was also shared on Reddit.com. A recurring theme on social media is the claim that Musks father owned an emerald mine and paid for his sons privileged upbringing and education. Musk has denied that story. In the interview, Musk's father explained that he bought his share of the emerald mine after selling a plane. Wayback Machine. "Bezos' Comments on Workers after Spaceflight Draws Rebuke." Its obvious why Musk would want to distance himself from apartheid in every possible way. [20] At the time of their daughter's birth, according to The Times, Musk was 72 and Jana Bezuidenhout was 30 years old. In addition to Elon, Errol is dad to son Kimbal Musk and daughters Tosca, Alexandra and Asha Rose Musk. Vance, Ashlee. Esquire, 5 June 2015, https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a35508/elon-musk-college-years-canada-u-penn/. Bill Gates' mom helped Microsoft get a deal with IBM. Elon was said to be particularly furious that his father had impregnated his stepsister. Elon, by his father's recollection then probably 16 years old, and his brother Kimbal, decided to sell emeralds to Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Avenue in New York . Theyd seen I was sleeping in one morning, and they said, Oh lets just try, lets go.. Beyond that, we were unable to find any evidence that showed money generated from his father's involvement in the mine helped Elon build his wealth in North America. ", According to the story, Errol said that Elon "once walked the streets of New York with emeralds in his pocket." A Twitter user claimed in December 2019 that Elon Musk's privileged upbringing included his father, Errol Musk, who owned an emerald mine [and] who could bankroll his education. However, the Tesla CEO begged to differ. This story was picked up by other news outlets and peddled as a sign of the Musk family's "lavish lifestyle. Elon called the story "actually accurate." - February 10, 2021 02:34 pm EST. My dad was not physically violent with me. For example, on Dec. 28, 2019, hetweetedthat his father "didn't own an emerald mine" and that he (Elon) had worked his way through college, ending up with around $100,000 in student debt. [14], Musk was married to Heide Bezuidenhout for eighteen years and helped her raise her young daughter Jana Bezuidenhout, a child from a previous relationship. He has also fathered two children, a son and a daughter, with his stepdaughter Jana Bezuidenhout. Errol and a co-pilot were flying a plane from South Africa to England to sell the aircraft but when they couldn't make a scheduled stop in Saudi Arabia, he pivoted his plan and changed his life. ", Inoneof the tweets from Elon in which he refuted the emerald mine rumor, he linked to an article that had been published on March 9, 2021. Vance wrote, "For what it's worth, my reporting, based on conversations with hundreds of people, confirms Musk's story. Business Insider South Africa, 28 Feb. 2018, https://www.businessinsider.co.za/how-elon-musks-family-came-to-own-an-emerald-mine-2018-2. You have no idea. Imgur, 5 Dec. 2019, https://imgur.com/SHGhIY2. However, in the recent Channel 4 documentary Elon Musk: Superhero or Supervillain, co-founder of SpaceX, Jim Cattrell, claimed Elon was home at the time. He also sent a link to another interview he did with Elon in 2016. Like his son, the wealthy business owner who was once rumored to be the co-owner of a Zambian emerald mine has also been mired in controversy. [10] She gave birth to 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. "So I became a half-owner of the mine, and we got emeralds for the next six years," Errol said.

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