{"id":96494,"date":"2025-09-30T22:32:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T22:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=96494"},"modified":"2025-09-30T22:32:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T22:32:00","slug":"south-africas-top-diplomat-in-france-found-dead-near-paris-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=96494","title":{"rendered":"South Africa\u2019s top diplomat in France found dead near Paris hotel"},"content":{"rendered":"
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South Africa\u2019s ambassador to France, Nathi Mthethwa, has been found dead near the four-star Hyatt Regency Hotel in Paris, French officials have told the BBC.<\/p>\n

Mthethwa, 58, was reported missing by his wife on Monday evening, after a \u201cworrying message from him\u201d, the Paris prosecutor\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

He had booked a room on the 22nd floor of the high-rise hotel, whose security window was forced open, it added.<\/p>\n

The circumstances around his death are unclear at this stage, and an investigation has been opened, the Paris prosecutor\u2019s office said, adding that a duty magistrate was \u201cgoing to the scene\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mthethwa was a high-ranking member of the African National Congress, the party that brought in democratic rule in 1994 with Nelson Mandela as South Africa\u2019s first black president.<\/p>\n

He had been serving as South Africa\u2019s ambassador to Paris since December 2023, and had previously been in government as police minister and also arts and culture minister.<\/p>\n

He was a close ally of former President Jacob Zuma and was implicated in what is known in South Africa as the state capture inquiry, which looked into allegations of high-level corruption during Zuma\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n

In a statement, South Africa\u2019s Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola hailed Mthethwa as a \u201cdistinguished servant of the nation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no doubt that his passing is not only a national loss but is also felt within the international diplomatic community,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Lamola confirmed that the circumstances around Mthethwa\u2019s death were being investigated by the French authorities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"SouthSouth Africa’s ambassador to France, Nathi Mthethwa, has been found dead near the four-star Hyatt Regency Hotel in Paris, French officials have told the BBC.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1972,9613,10,9,9614],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-nathi-mthethwa","category-politics","category-popular","category-south-african-ambassador-to-france"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}