SOUTH AFRICA
Nelson Mandela memorial
interpreter 'was a fake'
Man who provided sign language
interpretation on stage for Nelson
Mandela's memorial service,
attended by scores of heads of
state, was simply "making childish
hand gestures" for hours
By Aislinn Laing, Pretoria and Josie
Ensor
6:27PM GMT 11 Dec 2013
A mystery South African man who
acted as a sign-language interpreter
at Nelson Mandela’s memorial
service was a “fraud” who simply
made “childish hand gestures” for
hours as he stood on stage.
Deaf groups say the man, who has
pnot yet been identified, made no
sense in any language to those
relying on him around the world,
and did not seem to know the
recognised signs for South Africa , Mr
Mandela’s clan name Madiba,
President Jacob Zuma or former
President Thabo Mbeki.
As a result, they say, he had the
effect of marginalising the deaf
community, which was “contrary to
everything Mandela fought for”.
The embarrassing revelation also
raises questions about the security
at the landmark event, which was
attended by 91 heads of state and
government including Barack Obama
and David Cameron.
President Barack Obama stands next
to the sign language interpreter
after making his speech (AP
The interpreter, who wore the
clearance pass of a government
official, stood just feet from Mr
Obama as he made his widely-
praised speech, and also interpreted
for South Africa’s President Jacob
Zuma, who apparently faces such a
high threat level that he recently
spent £12.4m on security upgrades
to his private home.
The latest embarrassment was
compounded by the news that
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond
Tutu’s house in Cape Town was
burgled as he spoke at the event.
David Buxton, the CEO of the British
Deaf Association, called on the South
African authorities to “name and
shame” the man who, he said, had
acted in a way that was
“disrespectful and hurtful” to deaf
people around the world.
While some South Africans took to
Twitter to claim the man had been
signing in a South African language
such as Xhosa or Zulu, Mr Buxton
said he was purely making “childish
hand gestures and clapping, it was
as if he had never learn a word of
sign language in his life”.
“It was hours of complete nonsense,”
he said. “He is clearly a fraud who
wanted to stand on stage with big
and important people. It’s quite
audacious if you think about it,” he
said.
“It is incredibly disrespectful and
hurtful to the deaf community.”
Bencie Woll, Professor of Sign
Language and Deaf Studies at the
University College London
Mr Buxton said the man had
provided sign language for a speech
for Mr Zuma at a military event last
year. At that appearance, a deaf
person in the audience videotaped
the event and gave it to the
federation for the deaf, which
analysed the video, prepared a
report about it and submitted a
formal complaint to the African
National Congress (ANC).
Sign language experts in South Africa
said that all of the country’s 11
official languages were covered by
the same signs, and they saw none
of them used, nor any of the facial
gestures that usually feature.
Ingrid Parkin, principal of the St
Vincent School for the Deaf in
Johannesburg, said she had received
complaints from deaf people from
around the world about the
“gibberish” interpretation.
“This man himself knows he cannot
sign and he had the guts to stand
on an international stage and do
that,” she said.
Footage from a South African news
channel how their sign language
interpreter's translation differed
from that being provided by the on
stage signer
Martie Miranda, a sign language
instructor at the University of the
Free State, said a simple phone call
to DeafSA would have prevented the
spectacle, which marginalised deaf
viewers and was “contrary to
everything Mandela fought for”.
It remains unclear whether the man
was sourced by the government
which organised the event, the
ruling ANC or the national
broadcaster the SABC.
The government said it was still
looking into how the man was
recruited. The SABC could not be
reached for comment.
The ANC confirmed it had used him
“as a volunteer” at several events
previously, including its centenary
celebrations in Bloemfontein last
year.
“We’ve never had any complaints
before,” spokesman Keith Khoza said.
But Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen, an
ANC MP and the vice-chairperson of
the Deaf Federation of SA (DeafSA),
told the City Press newspaper that
the DeafSA had submitted a report
about the man to the party in 2012
but received no response.
“When a deaf person complains,
nobody listens,” said Newhoudt-
Druchen.

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