Nathi Mthethwa had earlier expressed his intention to end his life in a message to his wife, the Paris prosecutor's office has said

South Africa's ambassador to France, Nathi Mthethwa, has been found dead near a hotel in Paris a day after being reported missing, authorities have confirmed.

The Paris prosecutor's office said Mthethwa, 58, was discovered on Tuesday in the interior courtyard of the four-star Hyatt Regency Hotel by a security guard at around 11:10am local time.

He had checked into the hotel on Monday after reserving a 22nd-floor room about ten days earlier, Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement, adding that the window's anti-opening safety mechanism had been forced open with scissors left in the room.

According to the prosecutor, Mthethwa's wife had reported him missing to the police and said she had received "a message from him shortly after 9:30pm in which he apologized and expressed his intention to end his life."

Investigators found no signs of a struggle and no traces of medication or narcotics in the envoy's room. Beccuau said investigations are ongoing to determine the cause of death.

"While initial investigations suggest that it could have been a deliberate act, without third-party intervention, the aim of this investigation is to gather any information useful for understanding the facts," she stated.

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Mthethwa was a senior figure in the African National Congress, the party that came to power in 1994 with the end of Apartheid and Nelson Mandela's election as South Africa's first black president. He had served in government as minister of police and later as minister of arts and culture before being appointed ambassador to France in December 2023.

A long-time ally of former President Jacob Zuma, Mthethwa's name also surfaced in a state capture inquiry which investigated claims of widespread corruption during Zuma's administration.

In a condolence message, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the envoy's death was "untimely" and marked "a moment of deep grief for the nation." 

"Ambassador Mthethwa has served our nation in diverse capacities during a lifetime that has ended prematurely and traumatically," Ramaphosa wrote on X.