Nelson Mandela was a world renowned hero and activist- a man of justice, humility, and honesty who has left an inspiring legacy. His memorial, as well as Obama’s selfie with Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, took place on December 10th at the FNB stadium in Johannesburg where thousands mourned this great loss.
Thamsanqa Jantjie is the name of the infamous fake interpreter. The Deaf Federation of South Africa has accused him a completely bogus interpretation of the words of those who spoke. According to Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen, the first deaf woman to be elected to the South African parliament, “he couldn’t sign and he knew the deaf members of the audience couldn’t boo him off.” Why would someone do something like this? Well, according to Jantije he was suffering a schizophrenic episode. He claimed to have been hearing loud noises and seeing angels flying into the stadium as he was signing which prevented him from doing his job properly. To verify this claim he was taken into a psychiatric hospital for a check-up and then was admitted.
There have been mixed reactions to this peculiar situation. Obviously members of the deaf community were infuriated, but others thought it was quite amusing. As grave as a memorial serious can be, there was an SNL skit targeting the interpreter and the selfie of the year, another infamous facet of Mandela’s memorial service when President Obama was caught taking a “selfie” with Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Are fake interpreters without some sort of background check going to be using fake sign language at every world leader’s memorial service? Is Thamsanque really a schizophrenic or just a fraud looking for his fifteen minutes of fame?
