Elon Musk: Four reasons behind his decision to leave South Africa

With SpaceX set to reveal more details about their first commercial flight to the moon, founder Elon Musk stands on the precipice of history once more.

This will be the first time an “ordinary citizen” has been taken into outer space. On Monday, the company are set to announce who the lucky traveller will be – and thanks to the brains of a South African, something previously deemed impossible will become a reality.

We might be proud to call him one of our own, but is Musk proud of his heritage? Honestly speaking, the answer is no. His affinity to South Africa is nigh-on non-existent. He left when he was 17. But it wasn’t just on a whim – there were a few factors that made the Pretorian’s mind up for him.

Why did Elon Musk leave South Africa?

A serious incident of violence

Elon attended Bryanston High School when he was a teenager. However, a group of boys assaulted him so badly, he ended up at a hospital in Sandton.

After being kicked in the head, pushed down the stairs and beaten further, Musk was relocated to Pretoria High, but it didn’t do much to alter his perceptions. It’s alleged the school asked him for a R1 million grant, and he agreed – but only on the condition that they never contact him again.

Musk had made his mind up on South Africa then and there, it would seem. The whole Musk family felt let down by the school and the country in general – according to Elon’s father, Errol, the attackers weren’t punished and the incident was passed off as a case of “boys being boys“.

Education and the lure of Silicone Valley

Education proved to be one of the biggest motivating factors for Musk’s departure. He went to Queens’ University in Canada for a few years, then got a scholarship at the University of Pennsylvania.

However, his journey to America had been written in the stars. Musk said in a 2012 interview that he had always wanted to go to America as a young kid because that’s where “all the cool stuff” was happening. He wanted to be where the biggest developments were happening, and SA could not compete.

His first big successful company – Zip2 – got off the ground in 1996. Elon Musk had moved to Silicone Valley to attend Stanford University, but he dropped out of his third tertiary education programme to forge ahead with his road-mapping start-up. He never looked back from there.

Mom’s heritage

Maye Musk herself is a Canadian-South African model – just last year, she was on the front of Cover Girl magazine, aged 69. Though Elon maintains he arrived in North America with his own money, he still had his mom – who divorced Errol at the turn of the century – living in Canada.

And he probably won’t want to return any time soon, either

So there are a few factors that influenced Elon Musk’s decision to leave South Africa. But what’s keeping him away? With $20 billion in the bank, he could build a town for himself here if he wanted.

The truth is, Elon does not have any motivating factors to come home. The biggest put-off for the billionaire is the fact that his father – and his step-sister – have made life very awkward for him here.

Musk Snr – aged 72 – has recently admitted to being in a relationship with his own stepdaughter. He’s also fathered a child with Jana Bezuidenhout, who is 42 years his junior. Needless to say, Errol’s relationship with Mae is non-existent, and the family have been divided by the situation.

During an interview with Rolling Stone last year, Musk laid into his father for being a “terrible human being”. It doesn’t look like he’ll be back in Mzansi for a family braai any time soon.

“Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done. He was such a terrible human being.” – Elon Musk, on his father Errol.