The grieving family of South Africa’s Ambassador to France, Nathi Mthethwa, has launched a powerful rebuttal against official suggestions that the diplomat committed suicide. The ambassador was found deceased in Paris on September 30, 2025, after an apparent fall from his high-rise hotel accommodation. While French investigators lean towards a conclusion of suicide, his relatives in KwaMbonambi, KwaZulu-Natal, are insisting the full story has not been told, labelling the event as shrouded in mystery.
The family has issued a direct plea to both French authorities and South Africa’s own Department of International Relations and Cooperation to initiate a transparent and exhaustive investigation. They question the very foundation of the suicide narrative, pointing to the ambassador’s formidable personal history as a survivor of apartheid-era brutality.
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Family Rejects Suicide Claim In Ambassador’s Paris Hotel Death
A family spokesperson, Khulekani Mthethwa, articulated the family’s profound scepticism, drawing a direct line from the ambassador’s past to the present tragedy. He stated,
“This was a man who endured the worst of the apartheid system’s torture. His spirit was forged in that struggle. To suggest he would end his own life to avoid a commission is to not know the man we knew.”
The reference to the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, before which the ambassador was expected to appear after being named by General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, adds a complex political layer to the personal tragedy. Khulekani further raised a critical logistical concern, asking,
“Where was his security detail? For a man of his stature to simply disappear and meet his end in such a manner, we need to know who was meant to be protecting him and what they were doing.”
Conflicting Narratives from Paris
The position of the French authorities, however, presents a starkly different picture. Their preliminary investigation is treating the death as a suspected suicide. Sources close to the inquiry have revealed that Ambassador Mthethwa reportedly sent a deeply apologetic message to his wife on the eve of his death, which contained expressions of an intention to end his life.
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Physical evidence from the hotel room has also been cited, including signs of tampering with the window mechanism. Officials have confirmed that no evidence of a struggle or the presence of drugs was discovered at the scene.
The 58-year-old ambassador had a long and distinguished career in South African public life, having held the portfolios of Minister of Police, and Minister of Arts and Culture. Appointed as the nation’s top diplomat in France in February 2024, he was widely respected. President Cyril Ramaphosa led the tributes, praising Mthethwa’s “immense contribution to strengthening the bonds of friendship between South Africa and France.”