Latest news with #Errol
Time of India
4 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
Elon Musk's father, Errol Musk, opens up on his battle against prostate cancer
Credit: X For the first time, Errol Musk, father of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, has spoken about his prostate cancer diagnosis. The retired engineer from Cape Town, South Africa, shared his experience while supporting the Mail's campaign for a national screening programme. Errol, 79, had no symptoms of prostate cancer when doctors discovered it during routine blood tests for an unrelated condition. Speaking in England, he told the Mail: 'I feel lucky to be alive and feel fortunate my tumour was caught early, while it was still treatable - but there are so many men who are not so fortunate.' Recounting the diagnosis Errol said his elevated prostate specific antigen (PSA) level was first flagged in February last year during a routine checkup following open-heart surgery. 'A few years ago, I went for a flying medical and the doctor rushed me to a cardiologist, and I had an open-heart operation as a result of that,' he said. 'I keep going back for checkups and so on. I'm all right, I had a valve repair, replacement, in my heart.''But when I went for my checkup at the beginning of last year, they said to me, with the many blood tests they do, that I had a raised PSA. Not particularly raised, but it was raised.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Médico: Eu imploro que os Brasileiros usem isso para emagrecer Palmilha Emagrecedora Compre já Undo In a video interview shared exclusively with the Mail by his friend Avi Lasarow, Errol recalled the blunt manner of his diagnosis. 'I always thought when you go into see a doctor and he's going to tell you that you have cancer, that he first tells you to sit down, and maybe offers you a cup of tea and asks you, if you're comfortable, if you'd like a cushion? They don't do that. You've barely sat down on a hard bench chair, and they've said: 'You have cancer!'' Undergoing surgery and recovery Errol recounted the discussion with his doctor: 'After seeing the urologist, he said to me I have cancer of the prostate. I said: 'Well, what now, you know?' He said: 'Well, we can remove the prostate, and then we have to see what's left.' So, I agreed and I went for this operation and they removed my prostate and also all the lymph nodes on the right side, they teared that all out as well.' 'The biopsy showed that the prostate was carcinomas. It wasn't a question of leaving it. It was a case of stopping the cells from spreading. So, it was definitely the right decision in terms of maintaining my life. They didn't suggest to me that there was an alternative. They said you must have this removed. And as I've been going back, I don't seem to have a problem at this point.' Errol had the operation in July 2024, cancelling a planned overseas trip. Around that time, Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt, and Elon Musk publicly endorsed Trump for president. Sharing the news with Elon Musk Errol said he broke the news to his son via email. Elon's reply: 'Sorry, dad - whatever it costs, I'll pay.'Recovery was challenging for Errol. 'For the first six weeks, I actually felt pretty awful. You feel no strength. Your body feels weak, your legs weak, you just feel old, and you don't feel very good. The doctor said to me it would take 12 months after the operation before I felt all right. But I started to feel ok after three months. I'm much better now, and I'm looking forward to getting to the 12 months.' Looking ahead, Errol plans to launch Musk Health Systems, a DNA testing service focusing on longevity and screening for genetic predispositions to illnesses such as prostate and breast cancer. DNA testing, he believes, can guide treatment decisions and help relatives identify their own risks.
Daily Record
20-05-2025
- Daily Record
Elon Musk's dad killed three men 'saving daughter from having head severed and boiled'
Errol Musk, 79, killed intruders at one of his properties in Johannesburg and he said the consequences of not doing so could have been horrific for his daughter who was just six at the time Elon Musk's father, Errol Musk, has recalled a harrowing incident where he shot and killed three men, claiming it was to prevent his daughter from being kidnapped, murdered and cannibalised. In 1998, at one of his properties in Sandton, Johannesburg, Errol fatally shot intruders and has now revealed that they may have intended to kill his then six-year-old daughter, Ali, and gruesomely consume her body parts. The engineer and businessman had visited the rental property with Ali to inspect some painting work ahead of new tenants moving in. Errol recalled that at the time, carrying a weapon in Johannesburg was advisable, so he took his. 357 Magnum revolver, placing it out of reach before preparing a bath for his daughter. Describing the chilling events that followed, he said: "I heard some noise up in the lounge. It was quite a big ranch style house and I went up to the lounge and in the lounge were, my memory is not entirely sure, but about seven or eight men." With the lights on to examine the paintwork, Errol noticed one man who appeared more formally dressed than the others, wearing a jacket and tie. Confronting the group, Errol asked "can I help you" while pondering how they had breached the electric fence encircling the property. And elaborating on the harrowing ordeal during an appearance on the Anything Goes with James English podcast, he added: "He brought up his left arm, I presumed he wanted to shake hands, he had a black jacket on and I saw his hand come up, but then I saw the sparks come from his hands and he fired a weapon at me with his left hand more or less from the hip. "I probably ducked or dived or did something. For 20 years I did karate so I have reactions and I can react quite quickly. Anyway, I must have reacted, and the bullet went past me into a glass door which came crashing down. "I ran down to the passage to get my gun, I went to the bathroom, grabbed my gun, and as they came down the passage, I took out the guy with the tie, the one who shot me to the head. And that bullet went into the chap behind him as well." He recalled a tense standoff before another assailant fired at him. He revealed how the shot was intended for his chest, yet it hit a folding door instead. Errol also returned fire, hitting the man in the hip, which turned out to be fatal. He claimed that a total of 52 bullets were aimed at him, while he fired back just two shots, remarkably taking down three aggressors. Having shot one attacker in the hip, the remainder of the intruders fled, allowing Errol and his daughter Ali, who had stayed close to him throughout the chaos, to make their escape through windows shattered by gunfire, before seeking assistance in the street. Initially charged with manslaughter, a man was acquitted on the grounds of self-defence. Reflecting on the terrifying home invasion, he offered a chilling account. He remarked: "Well, I would have just been killed outright. Ali, they would have turned into muti, you know, they would have eaten her. It means if you eat a finger or something then you have luck for life, you know." Elaborating on the grim details, he continued: "The police said to me that if they would have killed her, they would have used her for muti - it is medicine, witchcraft. Her head would have been dangling from a taxi mirror, they boil the head until it is shrunk, and they hang it from a taxi mirror." In the aftermath, Errol and his daughter sought counselling, where Ali was probed about her feelings towards the shooting. When asked why she seemed unaffected, she reportedly stated: "Well, my dad won." Errol, who suffered hearing loss in one ear due to the gunfire, said they did not pursue further therapy sessions. He recognised, however, that the traumatic event left a lasting impression on Ali as her memories resurfaced. He concluded: "She endured the whole thing stark naked for the next hour and a half as I carried her through the streets with no clothes on. "She was just clung to me, six-years-old naked, her clothes were all in the bathroom. She was very good, she did not cry or scream or anything and we managed to get out into the garden away from the house and I was able to tell her, 'Just keep quiet, don't say anything, just lie flat.'" Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon has previously been candid about his strained relationship with his father, revealing in his biography that he endured emotional abuse.
Daily Mirror
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Elon Musk's dad says killing 3 men stopped daughter being eaten and decapitated
The father of Elon Musk once killed three intruders who he found in his property while his six-year-old daughter was taking a bath - and he said he saved his little girl from a grisly fate The dad of billionaire Elon Musk has opened up about shooting three men to death – claiming it saved his daughter from being abducted, murdered and cannibalised. Errol Musk, 79, killed intruders at one of his properties in Sandton, Johannesburg, in 1998. And he has now said they would have murdered his daughter, Ali, then six, before boiling her head and eating her body parts. The engineer and businessman visited the rental property with Ali to check on painting work that was being done before new tenants moved in. He explained that during that time, it was best to be armed in Johannesburg so brought along his .357 Magnum revolver, putting it on a high ledge before running a bath for his daughter. As for the bloodbath that unfolded next, he said: 'I heard some noise up in the lounge. It was quite a big ranch style house and I went up to the lounge and in the lounge were, my memory is not entirely sure, but about seven or eight men.' The lights were on because they had been looking at the paintwork. Errol said one of the men at the front had a jacket and tie on and looked smarter than the rest. Errol asked 'can I help you' while wondering how the men got through the electric fence that surrounded the property. And speaking on the Anything Goes with James English podcast, he continued: 'He brought up his left arm, I presumed he wanted to shake hands, he had a black jacket on and I saw his hand come up, but then I saw the sparks come from his hands and he fired a weapon at me with his left hand more or less from the hip. 'I probably ducked or dived or did something. For 20 years I did karate so I have reactions and I can react quite quickly. Anyway, I must have reacted, and the bullet went past me into a glass door which came crashing down. 'I ran down to the passage to get my gun, I went to the bathroom, grabbed my gun, and as they came down the passage, I took out the guy with the tie, the one who shot me to the head. And that bullet went into the chap behind him as well.' He said there was then a standoff before another man fired at him. He described how it would have struck his chest, but instead it clattered into a folding door. Errol also fired a shot in return, striking him in the hip, which proved to be fatal. In total, Errol claimed 52 bullets were fired his way, while he only blasted two shots in response, which managed to kill three of the men. After hitting one man in the hip, the intruders fled, and Errol and his daughter, Ali, who had clung on to him, escaped through windows that had been shot out before getting help on the street. He was initially charged with manslaughter but was acquitted for acting in self-defense. And opening up about what would have happened if he had not been armed during the intrusion, he painted a dark picture. He said: 'Well, I would have just been killed outright. Ali, they would have turned into muti, you know, they would have eaten her. It means if you eat a finger or something then you have luck for life, you know.' Asked to explain further, he added: 'The police said to me that if they would have killed her, they would have used her for muti - it is medicine, witchcraft. 'Her head would have been dangling from a taxi mirror, they boil the head until it is shrunk, and they hang it from a taxi mirror.' Days after the shooting, Errol and his daughter attended a counselling session, and he claimed Ali was questioned on how she felt about the shooting. And asked why she was 'fine' over it, she apparently said: 'Well, my dad won.' Errol, who lost hearing in his right ear because of the blasts, said they never returned for further counselling. But he acknowledged the shooting did have an impact on Ali for years to come, once her memories returned. He added: 'She endured the whole thing stark naked for the next hour and a half as I carried her through the streets with no clothes on. 'She was just clung to me, six-years-old naked, her clothes were all in the bathroom. She was very good, she did not cry or scream or anything and we managed to get out into the garden away from the house and I was able to tell her, 'Just keep quiet, don't say anything, just lie flat.'' Tesla CEO Elon meanwhile has been open in the past about his troubled relationship with his father and in his biography, he shared examples of emotional abuse growing up. And speaking to Rolling Stone, the owner of X, formerly Twitter, said: 'In my experience, there is nothing you can do. Nothing, nothing. I wish. I've tried everything. I tried threats, rewards, intellectual arguments, emotional arguments, everything to try to change my father for the better, and he... no way, it just got worse.' And in 2022, Elon took to X to say he had been giving his father money since the 1990s 'on condition that he did not do bad things'. However, he added: 'Unfortunately, he did do bad things.' In a different discussion, Elon called his father a 'terrible human being' and added: 'Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done.'
The South African
18-05-2025
- Business
- The South African
Farmer or IT technician? Afrikaner 'refugee' questioned over title
Local businessman Errol Langton has clapped at critics who questioned his decision to go to the US as an 'Afrikaner refugee'. This comes as many South Africans – including his stepdaughter – have questioned his claims of being a 'farmer' and an 'Afrikaner'. Many have also called him 'opportunistic' for wanting to start again in another country. Errol and eight of his family members arrived in the US this week and are planning to settle down in Alabama. Speaking to the New York Times about being a 'refugee', Errol Langton described himself as a 'farmer' from KwaZulu-Natal's coastal town of Hibberdene. There, he supposedly grew spinach, mustard, Swiss chard, and sweet potatoes. Errol has chosen to settle in Birmingham, located in Alabama, the same city his brother immigrated to years before. However, Errol has decided to take up an 'IT job' in the sector he coincidentally worked in and owned a large-scale business back in South Africa. On social media, South Africans have labelled the 'Afrikaner refugee' as 'opportunistic'. Social commentator Bianca van Wyk said: 'How odd! A farmer who is now working an IT job in Birmingham! Mr Langton…you ran an IT company in South Africa. You have never farmed. Why are you blatantly lying?' TikToker user @sinnedbad jumped into the comments, posting: 'I worked with Errol as an Account Executive at an IT company in Sandton.' @biancasays3 #southafricanrefugees #southafrica #unitedstates ♬ original sound – BiancaSays3 Errol's stepdaughter, Geneve Gouws, also questioned his decision to leave South Africa. She said in a TikTok this week: 'I'm completely shocked. What do they need protection from exactly? They're not even Afrikaners.' The young woman went on to claim that Errol 'lied' in his application to become a 'refugee'. She also believed that his claims of being a 'victim of crime' were a result of domestic abuse incidents with her mother, whom he has since divorced. 'What lie do you have to tell to get to America?' she added. Speaking to the New York Times , Errol Langton stated that while it was 'terrible 'to be labeled as traitors and sellouts', he added that 'haters are going to hate'. Since then, the 'refugee' has posted a TikTok video – in an apparent American accent – from his 'new home in the USA'. Defending his actions, he said, 'I am of Afrikaner descent. My family made a decision a long time ago not to speak Afrikaans and switched to English. While his LinkedIn account lists him as the owner of an IT business, Langton also claims that he was indeed a farmer. He continued: 'I did farming. I owned a farm or at least leased a farm for more than three years, where I farmed with the leafy greens and tried to get commercial farming up and running'. He added: 'So tell me, why don't I qualify for this programme? 'I may speak English and be two generations away from being actively Afrikaans. But I am a South African Afrikaner, and that is a fact.' Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 . Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp , Facebook , X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Yahoo
My father-in-law starved to death after his benefits were stopped. I'm disgusted with the DWP's response
The daughter-in-law of a disabled man who starved to death after his benefit payments were stopped has said the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) "owes my family justice" instead of "protecting its image while people keep on dying". Alison Turner spoke out after MPs questioned whether a promised safeguarding review ever took place after the 2018 death of her father-in-law Errol Graham, the 57-year-old who was found dead in his Nottingham flat, eight months after his employment support allowance (ESA) was ended by the DWP. The government had pledged to carry out such a review at the request of a coroner looking into the cause of Errol's death in 2019. However, in a new work and pensions committee report released on Thursday, 15 May, MPs question if the review ever took place. The MPs add that failure to do so likely prevented a follow-up investigation that would have looked at what lessons can be learned to prevent more tragedies like Errol's happening again. Alison told Yahoo News she found the new claims "disgusting" and that it showed the DWP was "getting away with what they're doing". "To lie to a coroner should be dealt with appropriately. These are people's lives," she said. "This was Errol's life. The coroner represents the deceased, the truth for those deceased. To me, [the DWP is] preventing the court and the coroner from carrying out their duties." The report, which directly cites concerns Errol's case, says the DWP has started at least 240 internal reviews into claims their actions may have contributed to a claimant's death or harm. It also calls for a new legal duty to be placed on the DWP to fix its 'deficient' safeguarding practices following the tragic deaths of some of its customers in recent years. Yahoo News has asked the DWP for a response. Errol, who was disabled and had a long history of mental illness, died in June 2018 after his out-of-work and housing benefits were stopped by welfare officials in October 2017. At his 2019 inquest, the coroner confirmed that Errol weighed four-and-a-half stone when he died, and that the cause of death was starvation. His body was discovered by bailiffs who broke down his door to evict him for non-payment of rent. A coroner's report said he was found with no gas or electricity supply and no food, except for two tins of fish that were four years out of date. Errol's ESA had been cut after he failed to attend an appointment for a DWP "fit for work" test, and did not respond to two "safeguarding visits" by officials. An inquest was carried out in 2019. Nottingham City safeguarding adults board also published an independent review of what it described as the 'shocking and disturbing' events that led to Errol's tragic death. In that report, the board concluded that multiple failings by the DWP, Errol's GP practice and his social landlord meant that chances to save him were missed. Turner previously described her father-in-law as "very proud man" who cut himself off from his family and friends in an attempt "to keep his mental illness to himself". More than £50,000 of taxpayers' money was spent on lawyers to try to prevent the release of a safeguarding review after Errol died, The Guardian reported in January. Confusion over whether department took out a safeguarding review first became apparent at Errol's inquest. The DWP assured the coroner it would undertake a safeguarding review, which was expected to lead to a change in government policy, and would mean the government would not need to issue a Prevention of Future Deaths report. The report, written by the coroner, identified what action should be take to prevent future deaths, with the recipient (in this case the DWP) required to respond in 56 days. However, Jesse Nicholls, a barrister acting for Errol's family, told the work and pensions select committee of MPs that the safeguarding review never took place. The committee said it tried to "ascertain whether DWP had conducted this safeguarding review", but they couldn't find any conclusive evidence. After the findings came to light, his daughter-in-law Alison told Yahoo News that the government "cannot escape the fact that there is evidence to show that their department is not only deadly, but ignorant". She told Yahoo News: "I want to be able to deal with grief, but I'm just angry all the time with it. "I'm angry. I'm angry that Errol's not allowed the truth because the government need to protect their own interests. At the end of the day, he's human like anybody else. While she said "there is mountains of evidence" the support the need for more robust safeguarding measures, she is doubtful anything will change. She added: "The DWP cannot just stand there — but it will." The work and pensions committee has been investigating whether the DWP should have a statutory duty to safeguard vulnerable claimants like Errol. Its report recommends introducing a legal duty of care — a fundamental principle that supports and reinforces safeguarding measures. It says that the department's 'patchwork approach' in response to serious cases of harm 'lacks coherence and direction" and, because of that, "public trust is sorely damaged". Several deaths have been linked to the DWP from 2020-23, with the report suggesting that these figures just scratch the surface. In the last year of statistics — covering 2022/2023 — 34 deaths of benefits claimants were linked to the DWP. This report, which was two years in the making, was originally launched after safeguarding concerns were raised involving several high-profile deaths of claimants, including those of Errol, Philippa Day, Jodey Whiting and Kevin Gale. Questions over the DWP's legal responsibility came to the fore when former then-work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey claimed that the DWP had no 'duty of care' to benefit claimants, adding that that duty should be left to 'the local councils, the social services, the doctors and other people'. However, for Alison, the claim is irrational and illogical. "The DWP owes its citizens a duty of care. This is a department that probably comes into contact with the country's most vulnerable people, more so than even the NHS does," she told Yahoo News. "Errol would have been entitled to a police investigation if he died in a police custody. Errol would have been entitled to an investigation if he died in the NHS. All we're asking is for the same treatment. "Why should my family not be entitled to the truth because the DWP did it? The government owe my family — and other families like mine — that at the very least."
