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Thamsanqa Jantjie, the 34-year-old sign language translator at Nelson Mandela's memorial service, who was accused by South Africa's deaf federation of "making up his own signs," said he hallucinated that angels were entering the stadium, suffers from schizophrenia and has been violent in the past.

In a 45-minute interview with The Associated Press, Thamsanqa said his hallucinations began while he was interpreting and that he tried not to panic because there were "armed policemen around me." He added that he was once hospitalized in a mental health facility for more than one year..

"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 said.

He also spoke with a SA based radio station, where he was asked if he was satisfied with his performance, he replied "Absolutely, absolutely. I think that I've been a champion of sign language".

http://www.infonubia.com/2013/12/sign-language-interpreter-at-mandelas.html