The best diplomat in South Africa in France found dead near the Paris hotel

The South African Ambassador to France, Nathi Mthethwa, was found dead near the Hyatt Regency four -star hotel in Paris, BBC told.

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

He had reserved a room on the 22nd floor of the high-rise hotel, whose safety window was opened, he added.

The circumstances around his death are not clear at this stage, and an investigation has been opened, said the office of the Paris prosecutor, adding that a service magistrate “went to the scene”.

MTHETHWA was a high -ranking member of the African National Congress, the party which called on democratic domination in 1994 with Nelson Mandela as the first black president in South Africa.

He had been an ambassador of South Africa to Paris since December 2023 and was previously in government as Minister of Police and also Minister of Arts and Culture.

He was a close ally of former president Jacob Zuma and was involved in what is known in South Africa under the name of the state capture investigation, which examined high -level corruption allegations during the Presidency of Zuma.

In a statement, the Minister of African Africa of South Africa, Ronald Lamola, praised Mthethwa as a “distinguished servant of the nation”.

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

Lamola confirmed that the circumstances concerning the death of Mrthwa were the subject of an investigation by the French authorities.