South Africa’s ambassador to France, Nkosinathi Emmanuel Mthethwa, has died after falling from a hotel in Paris. He was 58.
French authorities confirmed on Tuesday that Mthethwa, who had been reported missing on Monday, was found outside the Hyatt Hotel at Porte Maillot in the city’s 17th arrondissement. He is believed to have fallen from the 22nd floor of the four-star hotel.
An investigation has been launched by the Brigade for the Repression of Personal Crime, a branch of the Paris judicial police, with a duty magistrate sent to the scene.
Mthethwa’s wife reported him missing after receiving a worrying message from him on Monday evening.
His phone was last traced that afternoon near Bois de Boulogne, a large park in western Paris, prompting police to deploy search teams with sniffer dogs amid fears of a possible suicide.
He had been South Africa’s ambassador to France since February 2024 and also served as the country’s permanent delegate to UNESCO.
A veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle, Mthethwa began his political career in the trade union movement before rising through the ANC Youth League and entering the National Assembly in 2002.
He later chaired the parliamentary portfolio committee on minerals and energy and was appointed minister of safety and security in 2008.
The post later became the Ministry of Police under President Jacob Zuma before he was moved to arts and culture.
Recently, the Madlanga Commission investigating political interference in the police and judicial corruption heard that Mthethwa, as police minister, had allegedly instructed the KwaZulu-Natal police chief, General Nhlanhla Mkhwananzi, to stop an investigation into former national police intelligence head Richard Mdluli.
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