# Errol Musk

Errol Graham Musk (born 1946) is a South African businessman and politician, member of the Musk family, and father of Elon Musk. He served on the Pretoria City Council, and became a member of South Africa's Progressive Federal Party before resigning over political disagreements. As a businessman, he worked as a mechanical engineering consultant, developed properties, and invested in various ventures including emerald trading.
Errol Musk had three children with his first wife Maye Haldeman: Elon Musk, Kimbal Musk and Tosca Musk. Haldeman divorced him, saying he was abusive. Errol Musk had two other marriages and four other children. He faced criticism from his son Elon, who called him a "terrible human being".

## Life
### Early life

His mother, Cora Amelia Musk (née Robinson), was British and his father Walter was South African. Errol attended Clapham High School, where he dated Maye Haldeman, and the pair married in 1970.$^{:44}$ The family lived in Pretoria, where Maye worked as a dietitian and a model. Their first child, Elon Reeve Musk, was born on June 28, 1971, named after Maye's grandfather J. Elon Haldeman, with the name Reeve after her maternal grandmother's maiden name.

### Political career

On March 9, 1972, Musk was elected as an independent to represent Sunnyside on the Pretoria City Council.$^{:52}$ In 1980,$^{:71}$ he became a member of the Progressive Federal Party, the new official opposition formed in 1977, and ran as their Sunnyside nominee in the 1981 election.$^{:52}$$^{:225,fn119}$ In 1983, his resignation from the PFP over its stance towards the constitutional referendum was front-page news for the ruling National Party's organ Die Burger, which portrayed the opposition as divided.$^{:225,fn119}$ Musk rebelled against the PFP's call for rejecting the new constitution and cited his agreement with the New Republic Party's position that the Tricameral Parliament was a step in the right direction.$^{:71–72}$
In a January 2025 video interview, Errol Musk stated that governance in South Africa has deteriorated. In February 2025, Errol arranged a phone call between his son Elon and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, on which the two discussed the impact of Donald Trump's policies on South Africa.

### Business career

Musk studied electromechanics at the University of Pretoria, worked as an electrical and mechanical engineering consultant, and developed properties, 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" 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.
In the early 1980s, Errol built a lodge in the Timbavati Game Reserve to rent to tourists.$^{:ch.3}$
In 1986, he acquired rights to the output of three Zambian emerald mines, though he did not own mines themselves. In interviews with Walter Isaacson, he explained: "If you registered it, you would wind up with nothing, because the Blacks would take everything from you".$^{:ch.1}$ He later referred to his wealth during Elon's teen years in an interview with Business Insider South Africa, saying he had "so much money we couldn't even close our safe" and mentioned his emerald dealings. Snopes confirmed that at some point he owned "a stake in an emerald mine near Lake Tanganyika in Zambia". He once described his emerald mine as an "under the table" operation.
According to the 2015 biography of Elon Musk titled Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, in 1995, Errol Musk gave $28,000 to Elon and Kimbal as they were starting up the software company Zip2. Elon Musk has denied receiving the money from his father.
In January 2025, Errol endorsed a meme coin called "Musk It" and revealed that he planned to raise $200 million for the Musk Institute via this project.

## Family life

In 1979, Musk and his wife Maye divorced. In her memoir, Maye characterized her marriage as abusive and alleged Errol had been violent. She recounts a time during their divorce when she sought refuge at a neighbor's home after Errol showed up with a knife looking for her. After the divorce, Musk repeatedly sued his ex-wife for custody of their children. He was briefly married to a woman named Sue.
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". They had two children. Jana Bezuidenhout, who was his stepdaughter from that marriage, and four years old at the time Errol became her stepfather, later became his romantic partner.
In March 2018, it was reported that Errol had fathered a child with his adult step-daughter Jana Bezuidenhout. In July 2022, Errol gave an interview to the tabloid newspaper The Sun, announcing that he and Jana Bezuidenhout had another child. Musk has a total of seven children, according to People magazine in November 2022. Errol once commented, "The only thing we are on Earth for is to reproduce."

### Opinions about Elon

In 2014, Musk gave an interview about his son Elon. In 2017, Musk was interviewed by Neil Strauss of Rolling Stone for a profile of Elon titled "The Architect of Tomorrow". Errol recalled that he had once shot and killed in self-defense "three out of five or six armed people" who had broken into his home. Elon described his father Errol as a "terrible human being", adding: "Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done."
On August 1, 2022, Errol appeared on The Kyle and Jackie O Australian radio show, saying he was "not proud" of Elon. Errol was interviewed by author Walter Isaacson for his 2023 biography of Musk's son Elon, which discussed Errol Musk at length. In June 2024, he said Elon had upgraded his home security system, fearing he was at risk of kidnapping.
In 2024, Errol defended Elon after the latter said that the United Kingdom was heading towards a civil war. Later in 2024, Errol said that Prime Minister Keir Starmer was a fascist as a result of his response to the 2024 United Kingdom riots. He later called for Starmer's resignation. In January 2025, he again defended his son's remarks but also urged people to ignore them.