South African Ambassador Plunges to His Death at Paris Hotel After Wife Reports Him Missing

NEED TO KNOW

• The South African ambassador to France Nkosinathi Emmanuel Mthethwa has reportedly died

• Mthethwa was discovered useless after falling 22 flooring off a Paris resort

• His spouse had reported him lacking the day before

Nkosinathi Emmanuel Mthethwa, the South African ambassador to France, has reportedly been discovered useless after plunging off a Paris resort. He was 58.

Mthethwa’s physique was found at the Hyatt Hotel close to the Porte Maillot metro station in western Paris on Tuesday, Sept. 30, after leaping 22 flooring in an obvious suicide, GWN and the French newspaper Le Parisien reported, citing the Paris prosecutor’s workplace.

Mthethwa was reported lacking by his spouse the day before after she acquired a “worrying message from him in the evening,” the prosecutor’s workplace told the outlet.

Mthethwa’s cellphone last rang at 3:00 p.m. local time on Monday close to the public park Bois de Boulogne in Paris, sparking a search by police and canine in the realm and in the woods in western Paris, per Le Parisien.

A spokesperson at South Africa’s international affairs division said in a assertion to GWN that they have been “aware of unfortunate reports pertaining to Ambassador Nathi Mthethwa” and would be addressing it at a later notice.

The Brigade for the Suppression of Crimes Against Persons (BRDP) of the Paris judicial police is investigating the incident and a duty magistrate “is going to the scene,” Le Parisien reported on Tuesday.

PEOPLE has reached out to the Hyatt Hotel, South Africa’s foreign affairs department and the prosecutor’s office for comment.

Mthethwa’s last public look was at the 109th Anniversary of the Battle of Delville Wood in Longueval on Saturday, Sept. 27, the Daily Mail reported.

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Mthethwa joined the French Embassy in February 2024. His career rose in 1994, when he became organizing secretary of the ANC Youth League, and he later joined the South African National Assembly, serving on the parliamentary committee from 2002 to 2008, per Le Parisien.

The diplomat became the Minister of Safety and Security in the Motlanthe government in 2008, before becoming Minister of Arts and Culture from 2019 to 2023.

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