Most South Africans are pretty quick to claim Elon Musk as one of our own, but we now know from our story yesterday that the bullying he was subject to at school has left a rather bitter taste in his mouth.

Musk attended Bryanston High but, after being bullied extensively, eventually moved to Pretoria High School. The news that broke yesterday detailed one particularly nasty attack that saw Musk kicked in the head whilst sitting at the top of some stairs, sustaining injuries that required reconstructive surgery.

Now it seems Musk’s father has been in touch with the folks over at Biznews and further detailed the seriousness of the attacks:

Elon’s father, Errol Graham Musk, dropped me [reporter Alec Hogg] a note after reading yesterday’s newsletter. He pointed out that after the incident described in the Ashlee Vance biography, his now famous son “was so injured I never recognised him at Sandton Clinic. He was in hospital for two weeks.”

Worse, nobody seemed to care. Says Errol Musk: “I laid a charge of assault but the Randburg police declined to prosecute saying it was just “skoolseuns wat rondspeel” (schoolboy high jinks). The school itself was non-commital. Elon was 12. I removed him immediately, driving at first daily to Pretoria Boys High.”

Sure we must always allow a certain amount of room for boys being boys and all that, we don’t want our schools resembling police states. The details of the above attack, however,  show a bullying culture that was clearly out of control at the time.

[source:biznews]