South Africa’s ambassador to France found dead after fall at Paris hotel

Former South African Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has been found dead at a hotel in Paris, where he served as Pretoria’s ambassador.

Mthethwa, who served as former President Jacob Zuma’s minister of police from 2009 to 2014, was found dead at the foot of a Hyatt hotel after a fall, an official in the Paris prosecutor’s office said. He was 58.

The prosecutor’s office said Mthethwa booked a room on the 22nd floor of the hotel and a security window had been forced open. Mthethwa was reported missing by his wife on Monday, with Paris prosecutors saying he had made a “worrying phone call”, without providing further details.

The news of Mthethwa’s death comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa suspended key ally Police Minister Senzo Mchunu, following explosive allegations – about corruption and political intervention within the police service – by a senior law-enforcement official.

On September 19, the police commissioner of the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province alleged at a hearing – of a judicial commission established by Ramaphosa to investigate the corruption allegations – that Mthethwa interfered in a case against a former head of crime intelligence.

It is not known whether Mthethwa was scheduled to appear before the commission.