PARIS – French authorities have revealed that South Africa’s ambassador to France, Nathi Mthethwa, allegedly booked the hotel room where he was later found dead ten days before the incident, Newzroom Afrika reports.
Investigators say Mthethwa allegedly specifically requested a room on a high floor.
According to AFP, the secured window of his 22nd-floor suite at the upscale Hyatt hotel had been forced open with a pair of scissors found at the scene.
A hotel security guard discovered his body in the interior courtyard on Tuesday.
His wife, Philisiwe Buthelezi, last saw him on Monday afternoon when he was due to attend a cocktail event. That evening, she received a message “in which he apologised to her and expressed his intention to end his life,” prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.
“Initial investigations suggest that this could have been a deliberate act, without the intervention of a third party,” Beccuau added, noting that the inquiry would continue to gather all details.
Mthethwa had served as South Africa’s ambassador to France since December 2023.
Born on 23 January 1967, in KwaZulu-Natal, Mthethwa was a prominent figure within the African National Congress (ANC). He served on the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) and National Working Committee (NWC) between 2007 and 2022, and represented the ANC in South Africa’s National Assembly from 2002 to 2023.
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