Mthethwa did not fear Madlanga Commission, says family

WHILE French prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed that Nathi Mthethwa had expressed  his intention to end his life, the family of the South African Ambassador to France has rejected claims suggesting that he committed suicide.

Mthethwa, had reserved a room on the 22nd floor of a Paris hotel and its secured window had been forced open with a pair of scissors that were found at the scene.

His widow Philisiwe Buthelezi last saw him a final time on Monday afternoon when he was supposed to go to a cocktail event, and then received a message in the evening "in which he apologised to her and expressed his intention to end his life", prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.

"Initial investigations suggest that this could have been a deliberate act, without the intervention of a third party," she said, while emphasising the investigation would seek to collect all the details.

However, Mthethwa’s family in KwaZulu-Natal maintained that the  58-year-old had endured torture at the hands of the Apartheid police machinery and would never take his own life to avoid accountability for his alleged interference in the work of the police as revealed in the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.

Speaking to the media at the Mthethwa’s home in KwaMbonambi, outside Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal, his relative Khulekani Mthethwa, said the family was not buying the reports of a potential suicide, saying there were mysterious circumstances leading to the Ambassador's death.

Khulekani said the family wanted to know where Mthethwa's security detail  was from the time he was missing until his death. 

He said that Mthethwa was a brave man who 'endured torture and all forms of  brutality at the hands of the Apartheid police, therefore there was no way that he would taken his own life'.

“My brother would not have feared appearing in front of the Madlanga Commission to answer for any allegations against him. He was not a coward, as the family we dismiss any suggestion that he took his life to avoid going to the Commission. All we are calling for is a thorough investigation of the mysterious circumstances around his death, especially as he had security,” said Khulekani.

He said that he had spoken to Mthethwa twice on Monday, however, he refused to divulge the details of their conversation.

Mthethwa, a former Police and Sports, Arts and Culture Minister was found dead at the Hyatt Hotel in Porte Maillot in Paris on Tuesday after he went missing on Monday - he is believed to have died in tragic circumstances after falling from the 22nd floor of the hotel. 

The ANC described Mthethwa as a dedicated freedom fighter and public servant.

"Comrade Mthethwa was not merely a public official; he was a committed cadre of the liberation struggle and a dedicated servant of the people in our democratic era. His life was one of both struggle and service."

Although the Madlanga commission had not yet confirmed whether he was on the list of those expected to give testimony, Mthethwa was expected to be given a right of reply after he was mentioned in testimony by KwaZulu-Natal provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

Mkhwanazi told the commission that during his tenure as an acting national Police Commissioner in 2011, Mthethwa in his capacity as a Police Minister attempted to block the prosecution of the then police Crime Intelligence head Lieutenant-General Richard Mdluli. 

Mdluli was accused of abuse of state resources and corruption involving the Crime Intelligence Unit’s slush funds. According to Mkhwanazi, Mthethwa also ordered him to stop taking disciplinary action against Mdluli - Mkhwanazi described this as interference in the work of the police.

Mdluli and his co-accused pleaded not guilty during the start of their corruption trial in the Pretoria High Court in May.

Mdluli, together with the former South African Police Service (SAPS) Supply Chain Manager Heine Barnard and Chief Financial Officer, Solomon Lazarus, are facing charges of corruption, fraud and theft relating to the police’s secret slush fund from the time they were employed by the South African Police Service (SAPS) in the Crime Intelligence Unit, between 2008 and 2012.

Mthethwa, who was born and raised in Klaarwater township, west of Durban, was appointed as an Ambassador to France in December 2023 after he was dropped as a Minister by President Cyril Ramaphosa in a cabinet reshuffle. At the time, he was the Sports, Arts and Culture Minister.

Cape Times