Nathi Mthethwa in Johannesburg on December 20, 2017. GULSHAN KHAN / AFP
South Africa's ambassador to France, formerly a long-serving cabinet minister, was found dead on Tuesday, September 30, outside a Paris hotel after the window of his room in the high-rise building was forced open, prosecutors said. An investigation has been opened.
Emmanuel Nkosinathi Mthethwa, 58, usually known as Nathi Mthethwa, had "reserved a room on the 22nd floor whose secured window had been forced open," the office of the Paris prosecutor told Agence France-Presse. The body of Mthethwa, a close associate of former South African president Jacob Zuma, was found "directly by the hotel," it added. Mthethwa had been ambassador since December 2023.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called his death "untimely" and "a moment of deep grief in which government and citizens stand beside the Mthethwa family." "Ambassador Mthethwa has served our nation in diverse capacities during a lifetime that has ended prematurely and traumatically," he said.
In a statement released in Pretoria, South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said he had "no doubt that his passing is not only a national loss but is also felt within the international diplomatic community." The circumstances of "his untimely death" are under investigation by the French authorities, the statement confirmed.
