South Africa’s top diplomat in France found dead near Paris hotel

South Africa’s ambassador to France, Nathi Mthethwa, has been found dead near the four-star Hyatt Regency Hotel in Paris, French officials have told the BBC.

Mthethwa, 58, was reported missing by his wife on Monday evening, after a “worrying message from him”, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

He had booked a room on the 22nd floor of the high-rise hotel, whose security window was forced open, it added.

The circumstances around his death are unclear at this stage, and an investigation has been opened, the Paris prosecutor’s office said, adding that a duty magistrate was “going to the scene”.

Mthethwa was a high-ranking member of the African National Congress, the party that brought in democratic rule in 1994 with Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s first black president.

He had been serving as South Africa’s ambassador to Paris since December 2023, and had previously been in government as police minister and also arts and culture minister.

He was a close ally of former President Jacob Zuma and was implicated in what is known in South Africa as the state capture inquiry, which looked into allegations of high-level corruption during Zuma’s presidency.

In a statement, South Africa’s Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola hailed Mthethwa as a “distinguished servant of the nation”.

“I have no doubt that his passing is not only a national loss but is also felt within the international diplomatic community,” he added.

Lamola confirmed that the circumstances around Mthethwa’s death were being investigated by the French authorities.