The South African ambassador to France has been found dead after "falling from a hotel balcony" in Paris.
Nkosinathi Emmanuel Mthethwa, 58, a former police minister and leading politician, is believed to have jumped from the 22nd floor of the Hyatt Regency hotel in Porte Maillot, prosecutors told Le Parisien.
They said the 58-year-old had booked a room in the hotel, located to the west of Paris, and one of the secure windows had been forced open.
Mr Mthethwa's body was found on Tuesday morning after a police search began.
His wife alerted French police on Monday evening that she had received a worrying message from her husband.
Embassy staff told the force the ambassador had been absent since 3pm on Monday.
The Government in Pretoria said it is "with deep sorrow and profound regret the untimely passing" of Mr Mthethwa.
They described him as "a distinguished servant of the nation" who had held a number of ministerial roles.
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The ambassador fell from the 22nd floor of the Hyatt Regency hotel in Porte Maillot
|REUTERS
It continued: "The circumstances of his untimely death are under investigation by the French authorities."
French prosecutors have opened an investigation into the incident, and an investigating judge went to the 34-floor hotel, the tallest in Paris.
Mr Mthethwa had recently been implicated in wrongdoing at a judicial inquiry into alleged links between senior politicians and organised crime.
A regional police chief told the hearing that in 2011, when the ambassador was police minister, he had deliberately interfered in efforts to pursue a corruption case against a senior colleague.
The last connection by the ambassador's telephone was in the area of the Bois de Boulogne, police noted.
Police with dogs had searched the district at night after the ambassador's wife told them she was worried he was going to harm himself, French media reported.
The ambassador had been in the role since February 2024 and was also South Africa's representative to Unesco, the UN's cultural arm based in Paris.
His ministerial positions included sports, arts and culture, police and safety and security.
Mr Mthethwa's wife alerted French police on Monday evening that she had received a worrying message from her husband
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The South African embassy is only a couple of miles from the hotel.
Mr Mthethwa served as police minister from 2009 to the first five years of former President Jacob Zuma's term, who has since been charged with corruption.
Mr Mthethwa was shuffled by Mr Zuma to the sports and culture ministry in 2014, where he was kept by South African politician Cyril Ramaphosa until 2023, when he was dropped from the cabinet and sent to Paris instead.
During his time as police minister, Mr Mthethwa drew criticism for the killing of 34 striking workers by police during a protest at a mine in 2012.