Nathi Mthethwa found dead after going missing. Image credit: eNCA.
(The Post News) – French police have verified that the death of Nkosinathi Emmanuel “Nathi” Mthethwa, South Africa’s ambassador to France, was a suspected suicide. They are currently looking into the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
According to the reputable French newspaper Le Parisien, the 58-year-old is thought to have leaped from the 22nd story of the Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile in the Porte Maillot district.
When Mthethwa’s wife reported him missing on Monday, the Paris judicial police’s Brigade for the Suppression of Crimes Against Persons (BRDP) launched the inquiry. According to a statement from the Paris Prosecutor’s Office, she set off the alarm after he sent her a “disturbing message” the night before, in which he allegedly apologized and stated his desire to commit suicide.
After a desperate search that first located his cell phone near the Bois de Boulogne in western Paris, his body was found outside the hotel. A locked window in his hotel room on the 22nd floor was discovered smashed open, according to the authorities.
His cell phone was first traced near the Bois de Boulogne in western Paris, and a desperate search eventually found his body outside the hotel. Authorities reported that they discovered a locked window in his hotel room on the 22nd floor smashed open.
Only nine months after being nominated to the French Embassy in February 2024, Ambassador Mthethwa’s unexpected passing has shocked South Africa’s diplomatic and political community.
French authorities are looking into the circumstances, according to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), which verified the death. As a “distinguished servant of the nation,” Mthethwa’s demise is “not only a national loss but is also felt within the international diplomatic community,” according to Minister Ronald Lamola.
The incident occurred barely one week after Mthethwa, who served as Minister of Police from 2009 to 2014, was accused of engaging in political involvement.
According to testimony given before the Madlanga Commission, a court investigation into criminal activity and political meddling in the legal system, Mthethwa allegedly attempted to thwart the prosecution and disciplinary action against former Crime Intelligence chief Lieutenant-General Richard Mdluli.
Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, a former acting national police commissioner, stated in his testimony that Mthethwa’s activities were “the worst political interference” he had ever encountered. Although it’s unclear if Mthethwa was supposed to testify, it was said that he was supposed to be given the opportunity to respond.
From 2007 until 2022, Mthethwa was a member of the ANC‘s National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Committee (NEC). His wife and kids are his only survivors.
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