Police scale down on team to France for Mthethwa's death

THE police will only deploy one officer instead of the five initially planned to receive reports from their French counterparts on the death of  former South African ambassador to France Nathi Mthethwa.

Speaking on the sidelines of the South African Police Service’s (SAPS) Safer Festive Season operations launch in Bloemfontein, Free State, Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola said a single senior officer would now be deployed to liaise with French counterparts.

Mthethwa died after falling from a 22nd-floor hotel room in Paris last week.

“With regard to sending a delegation to France, we are working on a police-to-police cooperation. We do have a senior officer that is working in that country,” he said. The investigator was expected to depart the country on Tuesday.

“They will update the mission in terms of the activities and whereabouts once he is there,” he said.

The officer’s role is not to conduct a formal investigation, but rather to receive a report directly from French authorities.

“It's unlikely they will send you a report and leave it here. We take it as very important that the late ambassador was representing South Africa in that country, and was representing the president of this country. When such incidents happen, it is our responsibility to make sure that we liaise with our counterparts,” said Masemola.

He said the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) was already involved and that SAPS’s presence in France would be limited.

“We are just going there to receive a first-hand report. And, of course, ask questions and be taken through certain things. From there, we’ll be coming back to the problem. That was appropriate in my view.”

Masemola said the South African public deserved assurance that when a citizen dies overseas - particularly one representing the president - it is treated with urgency and transparency.

“A former minister of police - I think it was appropriate to take these steps to give the public and the family the assurance that we have been proactive. As far as I understand, it is fairly routine for police services in different jurisdictions to cooperate in such circumstances. And that’s all that has happened here,” he said.

IOL News recently reported that SAPS had deployed five seasoned investigators to France to assist with the inquiry into Mthethwa’s death.

At the time, acting Minister of Police Professor Firoz Cachalia said the team would help establish the facts behind the incident. 

Cachalia’s spokesperson, Kamogelo Mogotsi, said the team would supposedly be led by Major General Maqhashalala, Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Crime Detection in the Western Cape.

“The deployment of these investigators reflects our commitment to ensuring that every effort is made to establish the full facts surrounding this tragedy,” Cachalia said.

Cape Times