14 DAY TRIAL // In the wake of the Nelson Mandela memorial service, we are left not only pictures, speeches and memorable moments, but also some controversy. The biggest one to surface is the possibility that the sign language interpreter chosen to translate the speeches of those on stage was a “fake.”
Numerous deaf advocates claim that they couldn't understand the gestures of the official interpreter present on stage.
As many important people took to the podium, such as American President Barack Obama, and spoke reverently of the former South African leader Nelson Mandela, the interpreter made waves with his arms, touched his forehead and reached out in embracing motions, but deaf people were left clueless as to what he was “signing.”
Bruno Peter Druchen, head of the Deaf Federation of South Africa, tweeted during the speech, “Please get RID of this CLOWN interpreter, please!” while Wilma Newhoudt, a deaf member of the South African Parliament added, “ANC linked interpreter on stage is causing embarrassment among the deaf ANC supporters. Please get him off.”
The interpreter was identified as 34-year-old Thamsanqa Jantjie, and he defended himself in a newspaper, the Johannesburg Star, saying that he started hearing voices and hallucinating, which resulted in making gestures that made no sense to deaf people.
The man claims he is schizophrenic and that he takes medication for his condition and, while he doesn't know what caused the attack, he's proud of his performance.
Deaf advocates have accused him of blank facial expression, which is a very important aspect of South African sign language, but also of making up signs. They say he didn't even know basic signs such as “thank you” or “Mandela.”
His poor performance has not only drawn outrage from deaf communities from all over the world, but also clouded the whole proceedings in the Mandela tribute in a certain air of unprofessionalism.
Contacted for comment, government officials said they had no idea who the man was or who hired him but that an official investigation was under way.
Ironically, this isn't the first time the interpreter had been caught off guard. Last year, he was seen as the official translator at the ANC's Mangaung policy conference in the Free State. At the time, he was also accused of not being able to sign and that he was doing repetitive motions with his arms or making up signs.