JOHANNESBURG - The South African government said Friday that it is aware of reports that the bogus sign-language interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial once faced a murder charge, and said he is being investigated.
Phumla Williams of the government communications office said the government is investigating Thamsanqa Jantjie and how he was selected to interpret at a memorial Tuesday at which he stood close to U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders.
“We will come back and give a full report,” Williams said, adding that she and other officials are currently focusing on mourning events, which have included three days of public viewing of Mandela’s coffin and will end with the anti-apartheid leader’s burial Sunday.
Jantjie angered deaf people by making signs they said amounted to gibberish. A South African TV news outlet, eNCA, reported that Jantjie faced a murder charge a decade ago, but it is unclear whether the case was concluded. He also reportedly faced other criminal charges.
Asked about a murder charge, Jantjie turned and walked away without commenting. Jantjie said Thursday that he suffers from schizophrenia and has been violent in the past and that he hallucinated during the memorial service as he was gesturing incoherently.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield said “we’re all very upset” about Jantjie, who stood just 3 feet from Obama at the memorial ceremony for Mandela, who died in his Johannesburg home Dec. 5.
In Washington, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said Thursday that vetting for criminal history and other appropriate background checks of the people onstage were the responsibility of the South Africans. He added that Secret Service agents are “always in close proximity to the president.”
Thomas-Greenfield said Friday that U.S. officials are concerned about security and how the interpreter could have gotten so close to a number of world leaders.
South Africa’s arts and culture minister, Paul Mashatile, apologized for the use of Jantjie and said changes must be implemented to ensure such an incident won’t happen again.
“We sincerely apologize to the deaf community and to all South Africans for any offense that may have been suffered,” Mashatile said in a statement.
He did not comment on who was responsible for hiring the sign-language interpreter for Tuesday’s memorial. Several government departments involved in preparations for Tuesday’s memorial have denied hiring Jantjie.
Meanwhile, an estimated 100,000 South Africans lined up Friday in Pretoria to view Mandela in his coffin, but about a third of the crowd was sent away without being able to file past the bier.
Many of the frustrated mourners fought back tears of disappointment on the third and last day of the revered leader’s lying in state. Mandela’s coffin was taken away by a military guard to 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria. The anti-apartheid icon will be flown today to his rural home in Qunu, Eastern Cape where he will be buried Sunday.
Hundreds of people cheered and some burst into song when Mandela’s cortege left Pretoria’s Union Buildings, the seat of government, for the last time Friday evening.
“It was amazing,” said Keneilwe Mohapi, who stoodwith her mother as the impressive motorcade went by. “We couldn’t ask for a more fitting end. It’s an honor to say goodbye to him properly.”
“We’re mourning, but I’m grateful,” the 27-year-old said. “He changed my life.”
Many waited under a hot sun for four or five hours in a line snaking through an open field to buses that would take the lucky ones to see Mandela.
“I feel like I’ve lost a oncein-a-lifetime opportunity,” said 22-year-old student Caiphus Ramushun. “I’m frustrated because I got so close,” he added, saying he was only about 100 people away from making it to thebuildings before people were turned away.
Mandela’s body was on display since Wednesday, with larger and larger crowds trying to view it each day. About 70,000 mourners were able to file past the coffin Friday, said Williams, the government spokesman. But Friday’s surge overwhelmed planners, who were not able to move people through security checkpoints and onto buses quickly enough.
Shortly before Mandela’s coffin was removed and taken to a nearby military hospital, a crowd of several hundred mourners eager to pay their last respects broke through police barriers and raced up toward the Union Buildings. Police peacefully put them back in line, witnesses said.
Information for this article was contributed by Jason Straziuso, Gregory Katz, Markus Schreiber and Juergen Baetz of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 8 on 12/14/2013