Elon Musk's Family History in South Africa Reveals Ties to Apartheid & Neo-Nazi Movements

Summary

Highlights

• Chris McGreal reveals Elon Musk's family’s ties to South Africa's apartheid era. 🌍
• Musk's grandfather, Joshua Haldeman, moved to South Africa as an apartheid supporter. 🔍
• Elon Musk’s family wealth was built through harsh conditions in emerald mines during apartheid. 💎
• The "PayPal Mafia" includes influential figures like Musk and Peter Thiel with potential ideologies linked to their apartheid-era upbringings. 🤝
• Peter Thiel's education in Namibia was under a pro-Nazi atmosphere, influencing his views. ✍️

Key Takeaways

• Elon Musk's grandfather moved to South Africa in support of its apartheid regime. 🌍
• Haldeman, Musk's grandfather, was involved with neo-Nazi and fascist movements both in Canada and South Africa. 🔍
• Elon Musk's father gained wealth in the apartheid era through investments in emerald mines. 💎
• The upbringing and views of Musk and his associates, like Peter Thiel, reflect a complex history with apartheid's benefactions. 🤔
• Controversial historical ties suggest a libertarian and anti-government ideology among Musk's circle. 🏴

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 03:00: Introduction and Background of Elon Musk's Family The chapter titled 'Introduction and Background of Elon Musk's Family' provides insights into Elon Musk's early life. It is based on an interview with reporter Chris McGreal, who was a Johannesburg correspondent for The Guardian during the final years of apartheid in South Africa until 2002. McGreal has closely followed Elon Musk, noting he was born in 1971 in Johannesburg, South Africa, and grew up during apartheid, a period defined by systemic racial segregation and discrimination policies. Some of McGreal's journalist work on Musk includes articles that delve into Musk's beliefs and the origins of the so-called PayPal Mafia.
• 03:00 - 06:00: Elon Musk's Grandfather, Joshua Haldeman's Immigration to South Africa The chapter discusses Elon Musk’s grandfather, Joshua Haldeman, and his immigration to South Africa in 1950. This period coincides with the early implementation of apartheid laws in the country. Although South Africa had discriminatory laws before, the 1950s marked the onset of more aggressive, apartheid-specific legislation. The chapter explores Haldeman's life and experiences upon moving to South Africa during this tumultuous period.
• 06:00 - 10:00: Connections to Apartheid and Neo-Nazi Movements The chapter titled 'Connections to Apartheid and Neo-Nazi Movements' draws parallels between the apartheid policies and the Nazi Nuremberg Laws against Jews in the 1930s. It highlights the similar oppressive mechanisms employed in both systems, such as stripping certain groups of people from workplace rights and controlling their movements. The conversation also touches upon current events highlighting these connections, referring to recent actions by figures such as Donald Trump and Elon Musk, with Musk allegedly giving a Nazi salute.
• 10:00 - 13:00: Role of South African Prime Minister John Foster The chapter discusses the historical context of land ownership in South Africa, specifically focusing on the 1913 Land Act and its implications. The Act deprived most black South Africans of land, consolidating ownership within the white minority, who owned more than 85% of the land despite constituting only 7-10% of the population. Additionally, the chapter mentions the apartheid laws that came into effect in the 1950s, leading up to a brief reference to Elon Musk, who was born in Johannesburg in 1971.
• 13:00 - 15:00: Elon Musk's Father's Wealth and Lifestyle The chapter focuses on Elon Musk's father, with a particular emphasis on his wealth and lifestyle. The discussion includes a reference to John Fer, a significant figure in Musk's father's history. Fer, who had been involved with a Neo-Nazi militia called the OB in the 1930s, is notable for actions such as attacking and burning Jewish businesses in Johannesburg during the late 1930s. This backdrop provides insight into the controversial historical associations surrounding Musk's father.
• 15:00 - 18:00: Joshua Haldeman's Technocracy Movement During World War II, South Africa allies with Britain to fight against Hitler. However, there are groups within South Africa that oppose this alliance and instead support Hitler. One such group, known as the OB, even establishes contact with German military intelligence, planning to assassinate South African Prime Minister Jan Smutz and overthrow the government in favor of Hitler. Fortunately, their plot is unsuccessful.
• 18:00 - 21:00: Sam Nujoma and Namibia's Independence The chapter discusses the political ideologies that influenced South Africa during the mid-20th century. It highlights a speech given in 1942 by John Fer, who later became the Prime Minister. In his speech, Fer equates Christian nationalism in South Africa to Nazism in Germany and fascism in Italy, labeling them as anti-democratic belief systems.
• 21:00 - 26:00: Peter Thiel's Early Life in Southwest Africa This chapter dives into Peter Thiel's early life in Southwest Africa, specifically focusing on the socio-political environment during the 1970s. It highlights the impact of Christian nationalism on the education and political systems under South African leadership. The chapter also briefly touches upon the timeline from when Elon's grandfather moved to South Africa in the 1950s, leading to the family's accumulation of wealth through Musk's father's generation.
• 26:00 - 31:00: PayPal Mafia and Relationship with Trump The chapter discusses the early life of Elon Musk, highlighting the financial prosperity of his father, Errol Musk. Errol was successful due to his investments in Emerald mines in Zambia. The mining conditions in southern Africa during the 1960s and 70s were severe with high mortality rates and poor working conditions, yet owners, like Errol, became wealthy.
• 31:00 - 33:00: Elon Musk's Departure from South Africa Elon Musk's early life in South Africa was characterized by a neocolonial lifestyle typical for white South Africans with financial means during that era. His family lived in large, luxurious homes with servants readily available to attend to their needs. The wealth in Elon Musk's family becomes more apparent during his parents' divorce, as it is noted that his father, Errol Musk, owned a yacht, highlighting the affluence they possessed.
• 33:00 - 39:00: Historical Revisionism and Afrikaner Nationalism The chapter titled 'Historical Revisionism and Afrikaner Nationalism' delves into the controversial aspects of historical narratives pertaining to Elon Musk's familial background, specifically focusing on his grandfather. It discusses the grandfather's wealth, which included owning several houses and a jet, indicating considerable affluence. Further, it highlights his staunch support for apartheid, with documented evidence of his advocacy for the system, which motivated his migration from Canada to South Africa in 1940 to support apartheid. The chapter concludes by mentioning his untimely death a few years later.
• 39:00 - 45:00: Trump's Response to South Africa and Conclusion This chapter discusses the grandparents of Elon Musk, specifically focusing on their residence in South Africa and their Canadian roots. Although it is unclear what personal views Musk's grandmother held, it is mentioned that she and her husband were avid supporters of the apartheid system. Their move to South Africa is highlighted, despite having no initial connections to the country, as they were originally from Canada.

Elon Musk's Family History in South Africa Reveals Ties to Apartheid & Neo-Nazi Movements Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 this is democracynow democracynow.org I'm Amy Goodman we end Today's Show with part two of my recent interview with the reporter Chris mcgreal who was a Johannesburg correspondent for the guardian during the last years of apartate through 2002 he's been closely following the South african-born billionaire Elon Musk who was born in 1971 in Johannesburg South Africa and raised under the country's racist apartate laws some of mcgreal's pieces include what does Elon Musk believe and how the roots of the paper pal Mafia
• 00:30 - 01:00 extend to apartate South Africa I began by asking Chris mcgreal to discuss musk's grandfather Joshua halman we see musk's grandfather uh Joshua uh Haldeman he immigrates to South Africa in 1950 and that's really when apartate just starting to kick in the 1950s are when the most the first laws the you know South Africa had had discriminatory laws before but you see the specific apartate laws which are much more aggressive and
• 01:00 - 01:30 in many ways reminiscent of the Nazi nurburg laws against Jews in the 1930s they have very similar Echoes uh um in stripping black people from the right to uh work in certain places uh their movements controlling them confining them to areas you already had a situation which which is now you know come to the for because of of recent events with with Trump but you mean with the with uh Elon Musk giving the Nazi salute yes but also with the the
• 01:30 - 02:00 sanctions over land is that the 1913 Land Act had already deprived most black people of land in South Africa anyway at that point the 7% or 10% as it was of the population that was white owned uh more than 85% of the land Under The Land Act of 1913 um so the apartate laws kick in in the 1950s musk was born ilon musk was born in in 1971 in Johannesburg and at that
• 02:00 - 02:30 point the Prime Minister was a guy called John fer and John Foster's background is very telling really because uh fer in the 193s had been a member of a of a a a Neo-Nazi militia called the OB um which was openly sympathetic uh and linked to the Nazis in Germany um it uh it was responsible for all kinds of attacks but including burning Jews out of their businesses in Johannesburg and we're talking about what years in the 1930s so the late 1930s and then
• 02:30 - 03:00 South Africa Goes to War uh as an ally of Britain against Hitler the OB and the the um the groups that support them uh like fer people like fer uh they actively oppose uh that they actually are in touch with ob is in touch with German military intelligence and they plan to uh assassinate the prime minister of South Africa Yan smutz um and overthrow the government and have it support Hitler um that plan fails
• 03:00 - 03:30 because the Germans are unable to provide the necessary weapons and and back out um but in 1942 John fer later prime minister stands up and gives a speech and he talks about the system uh that they they they kind of ideological uh belief system which was Christian nationalism and he says Christian nationalism in South Africa uh is the same as Nazism in Germany and fascism in Italy it's all anti- antiem ratic it's
• 03:30 - 04:00 all the same thing by 1971 when Elon Musk is born that man is the prime minister of South Africa and Christian nationalism is the basis of not only the political philosophy but the entire education system uh that Elon Musk is brought up into so take us from Elon musk's grandfather and moving to South Africa in the 50s to his father how they gained their wealth so musk Elon musk's grandfather moves there 1950s he's not
• 04:00 - 04:30 particularly prosperous he arrives without a lot of money but it it's Elon musk's father Errol who makes the real money um principally uh through uh investments in uh Emerald mines in Zambia and you know mining conditions in southern Africa in that period were were really pretty dire in the 1960s and70s very high death rate very poor conditions uh but the owners got very rich um and Musk
• 04:30 - 05:00 um lived you what can only be described as a neocolonial life if you were white South African in that period and you had any money at all uh you lived with servants at your beck and call uh you lived in sprawling um housing um and uh what you see with Errol musk is that when we get a glimpse into just how much money he had when he he and U uh elon's mother uh get divorced um she says at the time that well he owns a yacht he
• 05:00 - 05:30 owns a jet he owns several houses um so there was considerable wealth there was the grandfather of Elon Musk on the record and his support for uh Foster well he was certainly on the record in his support for uh apartate um very vividly so yes um and he said that that's why the move he'd moveed to uh South Africa from Canada in 1940 was in support of it uh now the grandfather himself is killed a few years later in
• 05:30 - 06:00 um in a plane crash but um uh is not known what Elon musk's grandmother's personal views of fer particularly were but they were both Avid supporters of AP of the apartate system and the grandmother lived for a number of years afterwards so you've been talking about Elon musk's maternal grandparents and how they moved to South Africa but talk about their roots in Canada originally the grandparents have no connection to South Africa they're born and grew up in
• 06:00 - 06:30 Canada and in the 1930s the the grandfather Joshua halderman uh he's head of uh the Canadian branch of a US movement called technocracy Incorporated and technocracy Incorporated is essentially a movement to overthrow democratic government in the United States and have technocrats but big businessmen in many ways come in and run the country that's partly a reaction to FDR's election and New Deal and massive reforms that he's introduced in the
• 06:30 - 07:00 United States so from Canada they would help to launch a coup against FDR no the Canada had its own branch of this movement to overthrow the government in Canada he Holdman heads that Branch uh and through the 1930s it takes on increasingly fascist overtones they start wearing gray uniforms model on the Nazi brown and black shirts um and so when Canada uh declares war on Germany in 1939 alongside Britain um the movement is banned because it's clearly
• 07:00 - 07:30 sympathetic to Hitler uh then Holdman is arrested um Elon musk's grandfather Elon musk's grandfather is arrested uh they find documents sympathetic to the Nazis and other subversive documents inside his house and he is sent to prison for a few months and then remains on essentially a subversion watch list for the rest of the the war yeah so he basically regarded as a Nazi sympathizer a fellow traveler um and about a decade later later he moves to South Africa why
• 07:30 - 08:00 so after the war he founds another political movement which has deep anti-semitic roots and actually promotes the the the forgery the protocols of the uh uh uh Elders of Zion Elders of Zion that's it um uh but obviously after the war and the Holocaust uh there's no real appetite for that in Canada uh it's a failing political movement um and so his eye casts down to South Africa by 1950 the apartate government has been in power for 2 years
• 08:00 - 08:30 and Holdman looks at it and thinks that's just my kind of place uh which clearly that was what he would want to create in in Canada and had been trying to create in the 1930s and so that's the point at which he and um uh uh his wife may they move to South Africa and become very fervent supporters of a party I wanted to blend in some breaking news in addition to cutting off all Aid to South Africa news of the region and that is Sam Noma uh the Freedom Fighter turned
• 08:30 - 09:00 president uh who led Namibia to Independence uh from apartate South Africa in 1990 has died at the age of 95 often referred to as namibia's founding father known for his motto a United people striving to achieve a common good for all members of the society will always emerge Victorious um was used to be called Southwest Africa became the independent Namibia talk about Sam Joma and how that fits into this picture of
• 09:00 - 09:30 uh South Africa through a parte so SJ was the head of the Southwest uh Africa people's organization which was The Liberation movement of uh of Namibia swapo swapo indeed um really swapo takes off and and has is able to have effect after Angola becomes in independent uh with the fall of the Portuguese dictatorship that Portuguese colonizers leave Angola and Angola provid a base
• 09:30 - 10:00 then for swapo to really um uh fight to liberate Southwest Africa um that becomes known as The Border War uh euphemistically the South Africans called it the Border War they actually invade Angola uh in an attempt to overthrow uh the Marxist leaning government of Angola but also to keep swapo at Bay but the war goes on and eventually if South Africa loses that war um at that period though uh one of the things you see is that uh Peter teal another member of the pap ma Mafia very
• 10:00 - 10:30 close friend of musk um he he uh had been at school in Johannesburg but his father gets a job on uranium mine uh near swetman in uh what is then Southwest Africa um and so uh Peter Teel moves there as a child and goes to school there and the thing to know about Southwest Africa the reason it was separate from South Africa is that it had been a German Colony until the end of the first world war then it becomes uh falls under South Africa's man mandate partly because at that point
• 10:30 - 11:00 South Africa was a British colony um when South Africa becomes a republic in the 60s it hangs on to Southwest Africa and it becomes a South African Colony um but the population big part of the population was of German ancestry and um you could uh I remember going to uh vinok um in the early '90s and the the main thoroughfare through uh vinok was called Herman during stresser uh named
• 11:00 - 11:30 not after the lwaa chief but after his father who had been a governor of uh German Southwest Africa um the in swakopmund uh it was even more extreme it was Notorious uh for many many years uh really into the 80s and '90s as a hot bed of open support continued support for the Nazis and for Hitler um The New York Times has a story from the mid '70s of a reporter pulling up at a gas station to get his car filled with gas
• 11:30 - 12:00 um and the attendant openly uh giving a Nazi salute and saying hi Hitler to him um the you could go to curio shops in swakopmund and they would uh sell Nazi themed mugs and flags and things and they openly celebrated Hitler's birthday every May um teal went to a German School there so that's the atmosphere his he grows up in his father
• 12:00 - 12:30 is an official on a uranium mine there um and the interesting thing about the uranium mine amongst many other things is that uh it supplied part of the uranium to develop the South African atomic bombs in the 1970s which were um developed in League with Israel now part of the deal with Israel was that uh is that South Africa would deliver yellow cake uranium to Israel we don't know where they yellow cake came from it may have come from that swwa ofman uh area mine or it may have come from somewhere
• 12:30 - 13:00 else in South Africa but South Africa was shipping uh yellow cake to Israel at the same time because it too was developing nuclear weapons and talk about what Peter teal has said about all this you know I remember as we cover conventions for decades now Peter teal standing up at the first Republican convention that nominated uh president Trump and you know supporting him and who he is so Peter T um has said of his time in swand and particularly the
• 13:00 - 13:30 school which he describes as particularly a brutal uh education um that it turned him against government and into a Libertarian and I think I think that's uh interesting element in all of this is that one of the things that isn't necessarily appreciated outside of uh South Africa is that there's there's two kinds of whites there there's the africanas who we've been talking about but there's a big English speaking white population and one of the one of the aspects of the English speaking population was they on
• 13:30 - 14:00 paper said they opposed A partake but they they gained all of its benefits and they most of them certainly not all there were some really heroic individuals but most of them did very little uh to actually end apartate um but one of the products of that is you have people like musk and teal who have done very well and whose parents did very well out of the apartate system who deny responsibility for it they blame it on the africanas they blame it on a government extreme government extreme
• 14:00 - 14:30 right-wing government but then they have to explain how it is that their own parents um were so able to do so well out of a part and then they put that down to individual talent that they're naturally gifted and that leads them down this whole libertarian path uh anti-government path because essentially they have to explain how they too were benefits of a part eight without taking responsibility and talk about their relationship Peter teal and Elon Musk well they're co-founders of PayPal together they're both essentially share
• 14:30 - 15:00 the same kind of worldview from what I can make out they're you know Libertarians they're very opposed to any kind of uh Dei you've seen that a deep deep hostility to Dei uh I think teal buys into the same message about um uh anti-white uh the war on white people in South Africa that uh South African white groups like afre Forum have been pushing in the United States so I think that you know Phil offically they they're very uh
• 15:00 - 15:30 um similar and obviously they have a very close uh relationship and then talk about David Sachs uh and talk more specifically about what you're referring to as the PayPal Mafia I don't think most people in this country understand all of these connections and this unusual situation where these uh what some of the wealthiest men in the world worked together founded PayPal and now surround the president of the United States yes
• 15:30 - 16:00 so David saaks was born in uh Cape Town uh in the 70s and he he moves his parents take him to Tennessee when he's 5 years old so he didn't grow up in the same Mia as as um as musk and teal but um he did grow up in the white South African diaspora uh for sure um he clearly shares the same views you know as you say they're part of the PayPal mafia they all get get rich from the
• 16:00 - 16:30 creation of this company they're all at the top uh uh running it and now saxs has emerged as Trump's Ai and cryptos are um against part of the same project so you can see this and he was a chief fundraiser for president Trump um as you said born in Cape Town B yes a big so they they've all emerged with essentially from what I can make out the the same philosophy and of course that's only been uh reinforced by their success
• 16:30 - 17:00 they're convinced obviously of their own uh genius and worth and that uh government par whether it's South African government or in this case it seems to be the US government uh is an obstacle to success and then we talked about it in part one uh finally rollaf B uh making this little quartet white men of a certain age together and his history also a part of the PayPal Mafia yes he's part of it and he um he been he has not emerged as an as a uh open
• 17:00 - 17:30 supporter of trump I'm I'm not entirely sure uh what his personal views are on this um but he does have a very interesting background his grandfather was P bter who was the last foreign minister of apartate South Africa and pb's job essentially was to go around the world particularly the west and assure them that apartate was being uh amended uh was being dismantled um when in fact it was in many ways although what was known as
• 17:30 - 18:00 Petty apartate which was the routine discriminations the segregation was being uh dismantled in fact the political system was was actually only uh reinforcing it solidifying it they the government of the time cooked up a um a system of three parliaments uh that would represent different parts of the population but uh and give people who weren't some people who weren't white a vote but none of those people were black there was no black Parliament uh partly
• 18:00 - 18:30 because they were being pushed into the independent homelands the idea was that they were no longer South African anyway so P Bor went around trying to apologize and excuse for this this system and he was successful with you know conservatives he saw a lot of Reagan and people they loved him uh here and the same with Thatcher in Britain they saw them as the acceptable face of of a parate and he was so deluded by the end he was convinced um I remember meeting him uh in the era of the transition to
• 18:30 - 19:00 democracy from apartate he was so convinced that he was indispensable to the system that Mandela would have to appoint him uh foreign minister which he duly did not would you say the background of all these men's families was fleeing Mandela South Africa well they some of them left before I mean it's worth noting that um Elon Musk left uh in 1988 at the age of 18 just as he would have become uh eligible to be drafted into the South African Army as
• 19:00 - 19:30 all white males were at that point which might have led him to be fight the Border war that I was talking about in Angola against swapo or it might have led him into the townships which at that point were in complete ferment um and you know you had huge amount of civil unrest in South Africa at that point the country had largely become ungovernable uh it was under a state of emergency and the white troops were trying to keep some form of order in the black townships like so um he left before he had to do any of
• 19:30 - 20:00 that so very interestingly for people aren't aware Elon Musk had a company called x.com it was an online bank it merged with confinity in 2000 to form PayPal the merge company was renamed PayPal in 2001 and you have all of these guys who you've just laid out well I think B is a partner at Sequoia Capital but um now key players and that brings us to
• 20:00 - 20:30 Trump's order on Friday uh to cut off all Aid to South Africa and offer Refugee status in the United States to the white South Africans who are quote victims of unjust racial discrimination but interestingly many in the right-wing white Lobby say they want to stay and focus on ending black majority rule this is flip base the chairperson of what's called the solidarity Union we may
• 20:30 - 21:00 disagree with the ANC but we love the country as in any Community there are individuals who wish to immigrate but the repatriation of africanas as refugees is not a solution for us we want to build a future in sou Africa so he is speaking in front of a sign that says afro Forum um put this in context and what about Afric coners saying No this is our land and we don't want to come to the United States well AF forum
• 21:00 - 21:30 is backpedaling furiously now because there's been a huge backlash in South Africa from people who blame it for this situation in fact some people have accused it of treason um but if you look at what afri Forum was saying just a decade ago and certainly in 2018 when uh uh people like K Kel who was uh head of the afre Forum and others were coming to the United States they were claiming there was a white genocide uh they were claiming there was a war on
• 21:30 - 22:00 white people in South Africa um and they were essentially trying to characterize uh the post apartate era of one of Oppression of africanas that they were the the true victims of it and this is this is they're not alone in this there had been a phenomenon ever since the end of a part8 of africanas painting themselves as victim there there was a uh there was a song emerged in the 1990s called D it was very popular with African was hng in bars and rugby
• 22:00 - 22:30 matches and Del was a famous General who fought to The Bitter End against the British in uh the B War the second B War uh in the early 20th century which the africanas then lost and this song essentially is an attempt to take africanas back to a time when they were the victims when it was their women and children dying in the British concentration camp when they were the people who were oppressed and it conjures up this this bore General who he may be losing the war but he's going
• 22:30 - 23:00 to fight to the last a bitter Ender and they this is how they've been characterizing themselves some of them um and afriforum is part of that kind of uh attempt to rewrite history and make out that there this minority that has long been persecuted not just by the post apartate era but by the British and they have a long history and apartate was just a means of survival all they were trying to do was to keep themselves in their culture alive it has had one
• 23:00 - 23:30 other effect which they've which they hadn't expected and has alarmed them is that in all the orders that have been given out canceling uh uh Aid and and agreements one of them affects agricultural products being imported to the United States which have generally been dutyfree as a means of helping Africa one result is that their own products are no longer being imported dutyfree into the United States so these white South African farmers who been complaining of Oppression will now
• 23:30 - 24:00 actually be being hit with tariffs or uh D regular duties and so it's going to cost them financially which is one of the reasons they're so upset by it and pretending that it was nothing to do with them Guardian reporter Chris mcgreal he was the Johannesburg correspondent for the guardian during the last years ofate through 2002 we did this interview in early February over the past two months Trump has suspended Aid to South Africa expelled the South African ambassador and offered Refugee
• 24:00 - 24:30 status to White South Africans claiming South Africa's discriminating against the white minority Trump has also just nominated Leo Brent bazelle to be US ambassador in South Africa bazel's son was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for his role in the January 6 Insurrection before he was pardoned by President Trump one note on Elon musk's family may musk is elon's Mother not his grandmother