Interpreter for the Deaf at Mandela Memorial Service is Called a Fake

As the world mourns the loss of Nelson Mandela, a new controversy has emerged about his Memorial Service.  Just who was that sign language interpreter who did not seem to know what he was doing? His name (we think) is Thamsanqa Jantjie.  CNN reports,  deaf viewers who watched his performance say he was “talking” gibberish.

The service to commemorate Mandela, who died last week at 95, was broadcast to millions of viewers.  While dignitaries addressed the crowd at Johannesburg's FNB stadium, Jantjie produced a series of hand signals that experts said meant nothing.

"It was almost like he was doing baseball signs," deaf actress Marlee Matlin told CNN on Wednesday, through a sign-language interpreter. "I was appalled."

And it is not the first time he has done this.  There were complaints last year after Jantjie interpreted the proceedings at the ruling African National Conference elective conference, the institute's chairman Johan Blaauw told the South African Press Association.

Jantjie told CNN affiliate Radio 702 in Johannesburg that he is a fully qualified interpreter and has been trusted in the past with other big events.

"If I was not interpreting right, why was it was not picked up at that time?" Jantjie said. "You must remember, you are talking about an interpreter who has been interpreting through these years. And if I was interpreting wrong through these years, why should it become an issue now? It's one of the questions I've never ever gotten an answer for."

The radio station interviewer asked Jantjie to comment on media reports that he was hearing voices in his head and hallucinating during the Mandela event Tuesday.  Jantjie reluctantly acknowledged that he was a "patient receiving a treatment in schizophrenia."

The national director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa called Jantjie a "fake interpreter."  "The deaf community is in outrage," said Bruno Druchen. "He is not known by the Deaf Community in South Africa nor by the South African Sign Language interpreters working in the field."

As outrage over his interpretation skills grew, so did questions over who hired him.

A spokesman for the ANC said the party had not hired him for the Mandela event.

"We have used him on some occasions. But yesterday was not an ANC event. So we cannot answer for yesterday," spokesman Jackson Mthembu said Wednesday.

The South African government was investigating the reports, said Collins Charbane, minister for performance monitoring and evaluation in the presidency.

Jantjie told Talk Radio 702 that he was hired by a company called SA Interpreters, which was hired by the ANC. He also said he's formally qualified as an interpreter and that his qualifications are filed with the company.