Mystery surrounds Mthethwa's death

Neither the presidency nor the department of international relations has given much detail after the ambassador's body was found at a hotel in Paris

- Lunga Mzangwe

The death of South Africa’s ambassador to France Nathi Mthethwa earlier this week is still shrouded in mystery, with the presidency and the department of international relations and cooperation largely mum on the issue, beyond brief initial statements.

Mthethwa’s family has expressed displeasure at how both the government and the ANC have handled the death of the ambassador, who was found dead at a hotel in Paris.

Mthethwa’s brother told public broadcaster SABC that the family had learned of his death through media reports, instead of official government channels.

“We have not been told in a respectful manner as a family; we just heard it on social media. No one came to tell us what happened and how it happened.

“Our father got a call from my brother-in-law that he [Mthethwa] was missing. He then got a call in the afternoon that he was dead,” he said.

“We hoped that the ANC, as the organisation he was working for, would have come to us and told us what happened. I think this should have gone to the national office, then informed us as the family, before it goes in the news.”

Citing the Paris prosecutor's office, Reuters reported that Mthethwa had left a suicide note addressed to his wife. His body was discovered by a security guard on Tuesday morning in the interior courtyard of the hotel in western Paris, where he had booked a room on the 22nd floor.

It said Mthethwa’s wife had reported her husband missing to the police on Monday evening after receiving a message “in which he apologised and expressed his intention to end his life”.

The Paris prosecutor said the safety mechanism on the window in Mthethwa’s hotel room had been forced open with scissors — which were left at the scene — but investigators found no signs of a struggle or traces of medication or narcotics.

Initial investigations suggested that this might have been a deliberate act, without third-party intervention, it added.