'Fake' Deaf Interpreter at Nelson Mandela Memorial Blames Illness for Performance

The 'fake' sign language interpreter who flapped his hands throughout Nelson Mandela’s memorial service has said that he sufferered a schizophrenic episode on stage.

The man, who has been identified by local media as Thamsanqa Jantjie, told The Star that he started hearing voices and hallucinating during his performance, despite having taken his medication.

Much of his hand gestures meant nothing, but certain ones actually represented real words and phrases, such as "prawns" and "rocking horses," according South Africa's Eye Witness News.

He says he is unsure the episode was triggered by the pressure he was under or the happiness he felt at being part of such of momentous occassion.

“There was nothing I could do. I was alone in a very dangerous situation. 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 told the South African newspaper.

Jantjie claims that he couldn't leave the stage after the episode started, so stayed as his signing deteriorated.

 “Life is unfair. This illness is unfair. Anyone who doesn’t understand this illness will think that I’m just making this up,” he said.

He also told Radio 702 that he has been contacted by the government since attempted to  translate speeches by President Obama and several other world leaders at Tuesday’s service in Johannesburg.

Leaders in the deaf community said he flailed his arms inside the packed FNB Stadium in Soweto — but his gestures were meaningless.

“He was moving his hands around, but there was no meaning in what he used his hands for,” said Bruno Druchen, national director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa.

Experts agreed that he was not signing American sign languages or any of South Africa’s 11 official languages. But he still managed to stay on stage for the duration of the service, leaving leaders in the deaf community outraged.

“He was a complete fraud,” Cara Loening, director of Sign Language Education and Development in Cape Town, told Agence France-Presse.

Officials said Jantjie provided his bizarre brand of sign language interpretation for an event last year attended by South African President Jacob Zuma. A formal complaint was submitted to the African National Congress, Druchen said.

But the ANC never responded to the complaint, according to Druchen. He said a new complaint will be filed because of the farce at the Mandela memorial service.

Meanwhile, the leaders who took the selfie seen ’round the world claimed they weren’t acting tone deaf during the service.

White House officials said “it’s a shame” that a few distractions — like the the cell phone picture taken by Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt — “detracted from the event and the importance of Mandela’s legacy.”

The photographer who captured the moment also disputed reports that First Lady Michelle Obama was annoyed with her husband’s behavior.

“In reality, just a few seconds earlier the First Lady was herself joking with those around her, Cameron and Schmidt included,” said AFP lensman Roberto Schmidt. “Her stern look was captured by chance.”

Cameron said he was just being nice when a political acquaintance — Thorning-Schmidt is the daughter-in-law of former British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock — asked for him to pose.

“When a member of the Kinnock family asked me for a photograph, I thought it was only polite to say yes,” he said.

And the sexy blond Scandinavian leader defended her snapshot, taken during what was supposed to be a somber event.

“The atmosphere was of course melancholic, but ultimately it was a celebration of a man who lived to be 95 years old and who managed to accomplish so much in his life,” she told Danish Berlingske newspaper. “There was dancing on the stands and singing and dancing, so the mood was positive. And then we took a really fun selfie.”