FRED KHUMALO: Let’s celebrate Elon Musk
Why is it difficult to draw inspiration from a fellow South African who went to an apartheid-era school but went on to conquer the world in his field?
14 January 2021 - 05:00
When I learnt earlier this week that Tesla boss Elon Musk had overtaken Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest man, a part of me celebrated. I don’t work for any of his companies. I have never met him. All I know of him is based on snippets of his life reported in the media. In other words, his achievements will not have a direct bearing on me.
Yet I couldn’t help the glow of pride for the simple reason that, though he is based in the US, he was born here, in my country — once dismissed by President Carrot Hair as a shithole nation, as he referred to Africa and Haiti. Yet this shithole has produced a world beater now feted as a manifestation of the American dream...
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