South African ambassador falls to death from Paris hotel room

South Africa's ambassador to France has been found dead after falling from the 22nd floor of his hotel.

Emmanuel Nkosinathi Mthethwa, who was reported missing on Monday, was found dead "right next to" the Hyatt Hotel at Porte Maillot in Paris on Tuesday, sources told Le Parisien.

Mr Mthethwa, 58, was reported missing by his wife after she received a "worrying message" in the evening, the Paris prosecutor's office said. 

Fearing that he had taken his own life, the police launched a search party in the woods in western Paris.

Mr Mthethwa was appointed to the role in February last year. He also served as South Africa's permanent delegate to Unesco after a decades-long career in politics.

An investigation has been launched but initial findings suggested he jumped out of his hotel window, Le Figaro reported. 

"He had booked a room on the 22nd floor, and the secure window was forced open," the prosecutor's office said. 

The police also believed his phone last rang at around 3pm on Monday near the Bois de Boulogne park in the 16th arrondissement. 

The four-star hotel is located in Paris's 17th arrondissement, just inside the périphérique, the ring road, near the Arc de Triomphe.

One of the ambassador's last public appearances was for the 109th anniversary of the Battle of Delville Wood in Longueval last weekend.

Mr Mthethwa rose to prominence in South African politics in the 1990s and was active in the anti-apartheid movement, culminating in him joining the country's parliament in 2002.

In 2008, he became the minister of safety and security in the Motlanthe government, before moving on to the arts and culture brief.

The Telegraph has contacted the South African embassy in Paris for comment.

Mr Mthethwa had recently been implicated in an ongoing inquiry into political and criminal interference in South Africa's police.

The Madlanga commission of inquiry into criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system has gripped the country in recent weeks after it was set up to probe allegations that criminal and political syndicates were influencing police decisions.  

According to the Citizen, a South African daily, during the commission hearings, KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi stated that Mr Mthethwa had attempted to influence the inspector general of intelligence, Faith Radebe, to drop the charges against Richard Mdluli, a former head of police crime intelligence.

Mr Mthethwa was one of three police ministers that has been implicated in political interference in the commission. The implicated police ministers are all from KwaZulu-Natal, where political killings have become problematic over the years, the paper reported.