ANC and Mthethwa’s family to work together to repatriate his remains

ANC KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) convenor Jeff Radebe says the late SA Ambassador to France Nathi Mthethwa was a selfless leader who was prepared to lay down his life for the freedom of South Africans during the apartheid era.

Mthethwa died on Tuesday, allegedly after falling from the window of the 22nd floor of a Paris four-star Hyatt Regency Hotel.

He was reported missing by his wife on Monday evening.

The ANC in KZN says Mthethwa’s role in building the party in the northern regions of the province should be acknowledged.

The party’s provincial task team sent a delegation to pay their respects to his family.

Radebe spoke to the SABC after visiting Mthethwa’s home in Kwambonambi earlier Thursday.

“We are here at the Mthethwa family to pay our respects to the departed hero of KZN and SA. We are together with the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Alvin Botes as well as the member of the National Executive Committee, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, in order to ensure that all the preparations of bringing the body of comrade Nathi Mthethwa is done together with the family and there will be arrangements so that members of Mthethwa family also go to Paris to do the rituals as part of the Nyambose family,” explains Radebe.

Government officials visit Nathi Mthethwa’s home:

Radebe says the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal is ready to receive Mthethwa’s body in order to bid him farewell as a deserving hero of the province.

“The first point that we need to resolve is to await the president’s office to indicate the kind of preparation they want to make. The memory that I have of comrade Nathi is that at the height of apartheid and violence in KZN, he was part of the self-defense unit that we had created in the 1990s to defend people against the atrocious system of apartheid and the violence that was pervasive in KZN. He’s a man who has made his mark in South Africa.”

Mthethwa’s family express gratitude for messages of support: