AFP/Johannesburg
The sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial, who said he had suffered a schizophrenic episode during the service after being labelled a fraud, has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital, South African media reported yesterday.
Thamsanqa Jantjie’s performance at last week’s event sparked outrage, with sign language experts saying his translations of the eulogies - including those by US President Barack Obama and Mandela’s grandchildren - amounted to little more than “flapping his arms around” and “just making funny gestures.”
Yesterday the Star newspaper said Jantjie’s wife Siziwe had taken her husband for a check-up at a psychiatric hospital near Johannesburg on Tuesday, which suggested that he be admitted immediately.
“The past few days have been hard. We have been supportive because he might have had a breakdown,” she was quoted as saying.
Jantjie had been scheduled for a check-up at the Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital in Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg, on December 10.
But the appointment was moved after he was offered the job to sign at the Mandela memorial which took place the same day, the newspaper reported.
Jantjie has claimed that he is a qualified signer for the deaf but that his performance was down to a sudden attack of schizophrenia, for which he takes medication.
“I saw angels falling on the stadium. I heard voices and lost concentration,” he has said.
Local media have since reported that he was part of a mob that burnt two people to death 10 years ago - allegations he has denied - and that he had also allegedly faced rape, kidnapping and theft charges.
Mandela’s memorial was attended by nearly 100 sitting and former heads of state or government.
The South African government has admitted a “mistake” had been made as it launched an investigation into the scandal. It has also apologised to the deaf community for any offence it may have caused.
In recent media interviews, Jantjie has come across as incoherent.
Last week he shouted at a reporter, initially referring to her as “good” then suddenly accusing her of being “evil” and a “demon.”
In his home province of Free State, local media have claimed Jantjie has impersonated a lawyer and a traditional healer, though he has not commented on those allegations.
The revelations that the signer may have been mentally unstable, has raised questions about how Jantjie, who was at one point little more than an arm’s length away from Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, was vetted and received security clearance.
Workers clean up outside the Houghton Home of late former president Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg yesterday.
