Family rejects Mthethwa suicide claims

THE family of the South African Ambassador to France, Nathi Mthethwa, who died after falling from the 22nd floor of a Paris hotel on Tuesday, rejected claims suggesting that he committed suicide.

- SIPHO JACK and WILLEM PHUNGULA

The family said that Mthethwa, 58, had endured torture at the hands of the apartheid police machinery and would never take his own life to avoid accountability for his alleged interference in the work of the police as revealed in the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.

They have called for a full investigation by French police and South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperations into the circumstances leading to his death.

Speaking to the media at the Mthethwa's home in KwaMbonambi, outside Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal, his relative Khulekani Mthethwa, said the family was not buying reports of a potential suicide, saying there were mysterious circumstances leading to the Ambassador's death.

Khulekani said the family wanted to know where Mthethwa’s security detail was when he was missing until his death.

He said that Mthethwa was a brave man who “endured torture and all forms of brutality at the hands of the apartheid police, therefore, there was no way that he would taken his own life”.

“My brother would not have feared appearing in front of the Madlanga Commission to answer for any allegations against him. He was not a coward, as the family we dismiss any suggestion that he took his life to avoid going to the Commission. All we are calling for is a thorough investigation of the mysterious circumstances around his death, especially as had security,” said Khulekani.

He said that he had spoken to Mthethwa twice on Monday, however, he refused to divulge the details of their conversation.