Family has identified Mthethwa’s body in Paris: Botes

Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Alvin Botes says the family of the late Ambassador Nathi Mthethwa has formally identified his body in Paris on Thursday.

Botes, who was part of a government delegation to visit the Mthethwa family in Kwambonambi in northern KwaZulu-Natal, has described Mthethwa as one of the finer sons of Africa.

Botes says government didn’t want to speculate on the cause of death and appealed to the media to await the outcomes of preliminary investigations by the French authorities which are expected to be completed this weekend.

“After that our obligation will be to then to take the Mthethwa family and elders in confidence in terms of the initial outcomes from the report. For now, the attention and focus of SA must be to celebrate an internationalist produced in the province of KZN.”

Earlier, the family said there are still unanswered questions about the circumstances of his death.

Mthethwa died after falling from the 22nd floor of a Paris hotel earlier this week.

Mthethwa’s brother, Khulekani, says the release of the formal report from authorities on his brother’s death, which they are still awaiting, should help bring some closure.

He says the family is also expected to perform traditional rituals during the repatriation of the remains.

“At the moment, as a family, there is nothing we can talk about on issues that involve laws, but we are waiting for law enforcement agencies to give us a final report of what happened and how it happened, and why his cell phone was not with him during the incident. All these questions need answers. Did he leave his cell phone at the scene? But we hope the report will answer all these questions. So, at the moment we are waiting.”