Mandela memorial sign language interpreter 'was a fake'

[Gen]

i doubt his story about being meantally ill. I think he got caught in a lie and just trying to shift blame elsewhere.

the deaf community is annoyed because he offended them with his shenanigans

and now he seems to be making light of the mentally ill.

he says that on the day of the memorial, he was scheduled to go to the clinic/hospital to get a check up, to see if he needed new meds/if current meds were working and to see if he needed to be admitted

from what mi read it is difficult (though not impossible) to stand there for 5 hours without meds, without escalating and/or deteriorating rapidly into a full on "episode"

was reading about a 14 year old, his parents have about 20 mins to calm him down (whatever that entails) otherwise, his episodes (which involves wanting to hurt himself and others) lasts for HOURS

[Tropicana]

so him sey is not dat him was afak but he was going thru a psychotic episode

... but after reading of mr. mandela's love of jokes, i'm wondering if this wasn't his last guffaw

just heard him speaking on the news. he said he's schzophrenic and was hearing voices and trying not to panic because there were armed guards around him. if he has that condition he should have been on his medication.

Will I get in trouble if I ask if he has Tourette's Syndrome?


What about if I ask if hiring him as an interpreter was taking inclusiveness too far?

On second thoughts.....before all hell bruk lose again.......

Disclaimer: Before onno freak out again ... a joke mi a mek.

[Tropicana]

I am just hearing about this story now. I had no idea what people were talking about earlier today when they mentionned sign langauges.

He stood with a deadpan expression just inches from President Obama and other world leaders speaking at Nelson Mandela’s memorial, dressed in a dark suit, with a blue security lanyard bearing the words “state funeral” draped around his neck, flapping his arms and gesticulating in what was supposed to be sign language for the deaf.


But on Thursday, the bizarre story of the supposed interpreter, identified as Thamsanqa Jantjie, who is accused by sign-language experts of being a fraud, took a yet stranger turn when in a series of interviews he said he suffered from schizophrenia, had visions of angels while he was supposed to be interpreting for global dignitaries and begged forgiveness.


At the same time, a government minister acknowledged on Thursday that Mr Jantjie, whose first language was Xhosa, one of the most widespread among South Africa’s 11 official languages, was “not a professional sign language interpreter” and “the English was a bit too much for him.”

He had been hired at less than half the top rate for the job and the company that supplied him had "vanished into thin air," said Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, the Deputy Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities.


The sign language interpreter at Mr Mandela's funeral has said a schizophrenic episode was to blame for him gesticulating nonsense during the entire service.


Thamasanqa Jantjie was branded as a scurrilous fake after members of South Africa's deaf community said his signing at Tuesday's memorial ceremony had amounted to nothing more than "flapping his arms around."

Is this for real. How is this even possible? Mi belly.

Thamasanqa Jantjie, right, has been branded a fake after his signing was described as nothing more than "flapping his arms around".In an interview Thursday with the Johannesburg newspaper The Star, Mr Jantjie put his behaviour down to a sudden attack of schizophrenia, for which he takes medication.
He told the newspaper that he lost concentration, started hearing voices and hallucinating.
"There was nothing I could do. I was alone in a very dangerous situation," he said.

"I tried to control myself and not show the world what was going on. I am very sorry. It's the situation I found myself in," he added.Mr Jantjie later told a Johannesburg talk radio station he has been "a champion of sign language".
"I've interpreted at many conferences, including the presidential conference, and there was no one at all who said I interpreted wrong," he said.

"If what I had been interpreting was wrong all these years, why should it become an issue now?"
On Wednesday sign language experts expressed outrage that an impostor who was clearly illiterate in the linguistic skills of signing could have pulled off such a stunt.
He was a constant presence on the stage of the national memorial on Tuesday, watched not only by the audience in the vast soccer stadium in Soweto but by hundreds of millions on television.
“This ‘fake interpreter’ has made a mockery of South African sign language and has disgraced the South African sign language-interpreting profession,” said Bruno Druchen, the national director of DeafSA, a Johannesburg advocacy organisation for the deaf.
In a statement posted on the organisation’s Facebook page, Mr Druchen said, “The deaf community is in outrage.”
Mr Jantjie acknowledged his condition, saying: “What happened that day, I see angels come to the stadium.”
“I start realising that the problem is here. And the problem, I don’t know the attack of this problem, how will it come. Sometimes I get violent on that place. Sometimes I will see things chasing me.”
“I was in a very difficult position,” Mr Jantjie went on. “And remember those people, the president and everyone, they were armed, there was armed police around me. If I start panicking I’ll start being a problem. I have to deal with this in a manner so that I mustn’t embarrass my country.”
“I would like to tell everybody that if I have offended them, please forgive me. I was doing what I believe makes a difference in the country,” he said.
And, in yet another interview with Talk Radio 702 in Johannesburg, he defended his performance during the memorial.
“Absolutely, absolutely. I think that I’ve been a champion of sign language,” he said. He described himself as “a patient receiving treatment in schizophrenia.”
Two days after the episode, the South African authorities gave their first account of what happened when Deputy Minister for Women, Children and Persons with Disability Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu told reporters on Thursday that government officials had been unable to locate the company that hired Mr Jantjie and an investigation was underway into his security clearance.
“I don’t think he was just picked up from the street,” she said. “He comes from a school for the deaf.”
“He could speak sign language with his peers but he is not a professional sign language interpreter,” she went on. “He could not translate from English to sign language.”
She added: “He is not a professional sign language interpreter. That we want to put on the table.”
“The English was a bit too much for him,” she said.
“Did a mistake happen? Yes. He became overwhelmed. He did not use the normal signs,” the minister said.
Mr Druchen’s statement punched many holes in the sign-language interpreter’s credibility.
He did not, for instance, use the established signs for Mr Mandela or President Jacob Zuma. His hand shapes were meaningless. He failed to use facial expressions, head movement, shoulder-raising or other body language considered integral elements of signing.
“It is a total mockery of the language,” the statement said.
In Pretoria, Ms Bogopane-Zulu said the owners of the company that supplied Mr Jantjie had “vanished.”
“We’ve managed to get hold of them and then we spoke to them wanting some answers and they vanished into thin air because it’s a clear indication that over the years they have managed to get away with this. They have been providing substandard sign language interpreting to many of their clients and nobody has picked up,” she said.
She said the authorities were checking Mr Jantjie’s “vetting” to obtain security clearance. “We are requesting to check his vetting,” she said. “But normally, when you do provide a service at a particular level you will be vetted, and as you see he had his accreditation so he didn’t just walk through.”
She said that one clue to his professional status came from the fact that the going rate for a sign-language interpreter was between $125 and $164 an hour, whereas his services were just $77 a day.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/mandela-...#ixzz2nJcAs800

[Tropicana]

How come in 5 hours no one spotted the fact that he was signing nonsense?

[Tropicana]

Oh dear.

Violent sign language interpreter's access to Obama triggers investigation




The vetting of a sign language interpreter who got within three feet of world leaders including President Barack Obama during Nelson Mandela's memorial was being investigated Thursday after organizers admitted they were unaware of his violent history of schizophrenic episodes.
Thamsanqa Jantjie, 34, was accused of gesticulating gibberish during Tuesday's service. Members of the deaf community said his movements did not resemble any recognized form of sign language and some groups accused him of being a "fake."
Jantjie told NBC News that he is currently receiving treatment for schizophrenia and had been violent in the past. He said he started hearing voices in his head during the Mandela event and hallucinated visions of angels flying into the stadium.


Asked by The Associated Press how often he had become violent in the past, he said "a lot," but he declined to provide details.

Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi / AP

Sign language interpreter Thamsanqa Jantjie told The Associated Press that he saw "angels" during a possible schizophrenic episode while appearing at the Nelson Mandela memorial and said he had been violent in the past.


"There was nothing I could do. I was alone in a very dangerous situation," he said in a separate interview with Johannesburg's Star newspaper. "I tried to control myself and not show the world what was going on. I am very sorry. It's the situation I found myself in."
The South African government said at a press conference Thursday that “a mistake was made,” adding that officials were "trying to establish what happened with the sign language interpreter."
Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, the South African deputy minister for women, children and persons with disability, said that the government was investigating the whether the interpreter had been vetted before the memorial.


“I do not think he was just picked up off the street, he was from a school for the deaf," Bogopane-Zulu added. “Whoever saw him being able to communicate with his deaf peers, with his deaf friends, understood that he can speak sign language. [But] he could not translate. English was a bit too much for him…he became overwhelmed."
Jackson Mthembu, a spokesman for the ruling National African Congress party, told NBC News Thursday that he was concerned that Jantjie’s qualifications or medical history had apparently not been taken into account before he was given close access to world leaders at the government-organized event.
"We are not aware that he was being treated for [schizophrenia]. He did not disclose it. That is another thing that is concerning to use because we are having this information for the first time," Mthembu said. "This man was close to many presidents, including our own. We are worried about when we have procured him for activities for our own services. That is what we are concerned about."
When asked about the incident during a briefing Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that President Obama was "not concerned" at any point during the trip.
He said the U.S. Secret Service had "worked very hard on this trip, which came about on short notice, as they always do when it comes to the president’s security," before adding: "Beyond that, I would refer you to the government of South Africa or the Secret Service."
NBC News security analyst James Cavanaugh said it was troubling that there were so many questions about a person who had been granted face-to-face access to world leaders.


"There should not be a person there if that person is not completely vetted and they know exactly who they are," said Cavanaugh, a retired special agent-in-charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). "There are too many terrorists in that region of the world to take even the slightest chance to have a person that's not really known that close to world leaders."
In an email response to The Associated Press, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan added that "agreed-upon security measures between the U.S. Secret Service and South African government security officials were in place" during the service.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest played down the incident.


Jantjie told Talk Radio 702 he was employed by a company called SA Interpreters. The company declined to comment when contacted by NBC News on Thursday.
Bogopane-Zulu, the government minister, said officials had tried to track down the company's owners but they appeared to have "vanished into thin air."
According to Jantjie, he was paid a $85 day rate for appearing at the Mandela memorial.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/12/21873839-violent-sign-language-interpreters-access-to-obama-triggers-investigation

[Gen]

him just continue to dig himself inna hole

[Tropicana]

Again I ask, how come in 5 hours no one spotted the fact that he was signing gibberish? They should have pulled him off the platform.

[Tropicana]

Experts say the man who stood on stage alongside Obama and other world leaders was not using any internationally recognised form of sign language

Barack Obama's speech at yesterday's memorial service for Nelson Mandela was hailed as another one of his great oratory performances.

But it has been claimed today that the man stood next to him on stage to translate his moving tribute into sign language was a FAKE, who had never been trained to sign and whose signals made absolutely no sense to deaf people.

The man also appeared alongside service organiser Cyril Ramaphosa and other world leaders as they spoke to a crowd of 80,000 at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium - with pictures of his gibberish gestures beamed around the world to millions more.

Questions were first raised about the man's authenticity on Twitter, with the national director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa Bruno Peter Druchen tweeting: "Please get RID of this CLOWN interpreter, please!"

He later added: "This person is not using sign language at all, I am (a) deaf person myself...I use sign language every day."

South African Sign Language interpreter and trainer Francois Deysel said the man's signs "make no sense", and that he was just "moving his arms to try to look busy".

He added: "It is embarrassing and making a mockery of our profession."

South Africa's Deaf Federation later told the BBC World Service the man "is not recognised and has never been trained to sign", while the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI) said he was not using any accepted form of sign language in the world.

Sheena Walters, from WASLI, told SBS news: "It seems quite obvious that the interpreter isn't using South African sign language.

"Most sign languages across the world share a similar structure and pattern and this person seems to be making a lot of repetitive signs and isn't displaying the usual facial expression or structure of sign language that you would normally see."

Charlie Swinborne of The Limping Chicken - a British blog for deaf people - said the man appeared to be using a "strange repetitive rythmn", while occasionally swinging his shoulder

They added: "On a day when the world saluted a man who fought oppression, a guy stood on stage and effectively oppressed another minority -- deaf people, by making a mockery of our language."

"Above all I feel sorry for deaf South Africans, who should have had amazing access to the service, with a top-class interpreter there on screen, but got this instead."

[Tropicana]

Here is what I think happened, I think he got the job on false pretences maybe he knows someone and he finally got busted.

How embarrassing.

[Suesumba]

Here is what I think happened, I thin he got the job on false pretenses maybe he knows someone and he finally got busted.

How embarrassing.

.... or he was a diversion so dem could rob Bishop Tutu's home

[Tropicana]

.... or he was a diversion so dem could rob Bishop Tutu's home

What



I never heard that one. Man there was more drama at that funeral than at President Obama's first inauguration dinner.

[Tropicana]

Desmond Tutu's Home Robbed While He Was Attending Mandela Memorial

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Police in South Africa say retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu's home was robbed while he was away to attend a memorial honoring Nelson Mandela.A statement Wednesday from the South African Police Service said the robbery of Tutu's home in Cape Town happened between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Tuesday. That was the day the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and foe of apartheid spoke at the memorial service at a soccer stadium in Soweto township of Johannesburg.
The statement said: "At this stage, we cannot give further details, as the investigation into the matter is still ongoing. No arrests have been made as yet."
The 82-year-old Tutu had his home robbed in August as he and his wife slept inside. Both were unhurt.
Burglaries and home-invasions frequently occur in South Africa.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/11/desmond-tutu-home-robbed_n_4425343.html

[Tropicana]

‘FAKE’ MANDELA SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETER WHO STOOD JUST INCHES FROM OBAMA REPORTEDLY FACED MURDER, RAPE & KIDNAPPING CHARGES

The accused fraudulent sign language interpreter who stood just inches away from President Barack Obama and other world leaders during the memorial service for Nelson Mandela has reportedly faced murder, rape and kidnapping charges.

South African TV news outlet eNCA reported Friday that Thamsanqa Jantjie has faced multiple violent charges in the last two decades, including murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, rape, theft, housebreaking and malicious property damage.



The outlet reported that many of the charges against him were dropped “allegedly because he was mentally unfit to stand trial.” Jantjie said he suffers from schizophrenia and saw “angels” at Tuesday’s memorial after deaf people charged that he was signing gibberish.
According to eNCA, Jantjie was acquitted of the rape charge but convicted of theft and sentenced to three years in prison, though it’s unclear whether he actually spent time in jail.

The outlet also reported that the court file for the 2003 murder, attempted murder and kidnapping case against Jantjie was mysteriously empty and it was unclear whether or how the case had concluded.


According to the Associated Press, the South African government said Friday it’s aware of reports about the murder charge and is investigating Jantjie and how he ended up standing onstage at the memorial.

[Tropicana]

[Tropicana]

Man this just keeps getting worse and worse. Do you think this is all true or are they just making this up now and making him out to be a Satan? I mean how could someone with this track record have been allowed to get so close to world leaders?

The bogus sign language interpreter at last week’s Nelson Mandela memorial service was among a group of people who accosted two men found with a stolen television and burned them to death by setting fire to tires placed around their necks, one of the interpreter’s cousins and three of his friends told The Associated Press Monday.But Thamsanqa Jantjie never went to trial for the 2003 killings when other suspects did in 2006 because authorities determined he was not mentally fit to stand trial, said the four. They insisted on speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the fake signing fiasco, which has deeply embarrassed South Africa’s government and prompted a high-level investigation into how it happened.
Their account of the killings matched a description of the crime and the outcome for Jantjie that he himself described in an interview published on Sunday by the Sunday Times newspaper of Johannesburg.
Related

• Meet Thamsanqa Jantjie — the schizophrenic with a violent past who ‘signed’ next to Obama at memorial
• South African government investigating claims bogus sign interpreter Thamsanqa Jantjie once faced murder charge

“It was a community thing, what you call mob justice, and I was also there,” Jantjie told the newspaper.
Jantjie was not at his house Monday, and the cousin told AP Jantjie had been picked up by someone in a car Sunday and had not returned. His cellphone rang through to an automatic message saying Jantjie was not reachable.
Instead of standing trial, Jantjie was institutionalized for a period of longer than a year, the four said, and then returned to live in his poor township neighbourhood on the outskirts of Soweto. At some point after that, they said, he started getting jobs doing sign language interpretation at events for the governing African National Congress Party.
Jantjie told the AP last week he has schizophrenia and hallucinated, seeing angels while gesturing incoherently just 3 feet away from President Barack Obama and other world leaders during the Tuesday ceremony at a Soweto stadium. Signing experts said his arm and hand movements were mere gibberish.

In the interview last Thursday, Jantjie said he had been violent in the past “a lot” but declined to provide more details and blamed his violence on his schizophrenia, for which he said he was institutionalized for 19 months in a period that included time during 2006. The cousin and the three friends said the “necklacing” killing of the suspected thieves occurred within a few hundred meters (yards) from Jantjie’s tidy concrete home near ramshackle dwellings.The four spoke to the AP on Monday in Jantjie’s neighbourhood, and one of the friends described himself as Jantjie’s best friend.
Necklacing was a method of killing that was fairly common during the struggle against apartheid by blacks on blacks suspected of aiding the white government or belonging to opposing factions. The method was also used in tribal disputes in the 1980s and 1990s. While people who encounter suspect thieves in South Africa have been known to beat or kill them to mete out punishment, necklacing them has been rare.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/12/16/bogus-mandela-interpreter-thamsanqa-jantjie-involved-in-necklacing-mob-justice-killing-of-two-men-burned-to-death-friends-say/