RSA: Hunt on for fake 'signer' who stood metres from Obama & Govt to probe sign interpreter claims
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Deaf community outraged by 'utter fake'
"If he values his life he must come clean, because the deaf community throughout the world are outraged," said director Cara Loening.
She said not one of his signs at the memorial at the FNB Stadium, in Soweto, on Tuesday, had anything to do with sign language.
"It was like getting somebody off the street and telling them to flap their hands around," said Loening.
"This man made a mockery of the service. How disrespectful for what Madiba stood for."
She said the interpreter, who was on the stage, had no clue about sign language.
"Deaf people had very, very little access to information from the memorial service."
Loening said sign language was a full and recognised language that would soon be taught in schools.
Another female interpreter in the SABC news wraps of the memorial was an accredited, qualified, and accurate sign language interpreter, Loening said.
‘Mockery’
Andries van Niekerk, spokesperson for the National Institute for the Deaf (NID), said it was unacceptable.
"The interpreter at the service was clearly not competent and did not use hand shapes, movements, or facial expressions typical of South African sign language," he said.
"The NID is saddened that the deaf in attendance [at the service] could not understand what other great statesmen said about the legacy that the father of our nation leaves behind."
Van Niekerk said the deaf community was outraged.
"We are deeply concerned that whoever decided to employ this man as an interpreter, who has ruined the opportunity for the deaf to share in this final homage to a great leader, are making decisions that affect the lives of South African deaf people and causing embarrassment for the entire country."
Government spokesperson Phumla Williams said she was unable to respond to the allegations immediately, as she did not know which department hired the man. She said she did not know about his qualifications or expertise.
"I can try and find out," she said.
Another person answered Williams's phone later and referred all queries to the media desk.
Another government spokesperson Manusha Pillai said it was the first time they had heard of it.
"We need time to get to the bottom of this."
On Twitter on Tuesday, @FrancoisDeysel commented: "please can someone ask the interpreter to step down from stage, it is embarrassing and making a mockery of our profession".
Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen, vice-president of the World Federation of the Deaf and the first deaf member of South Africa's Parliament, tweeted on Tuesday: "Shame on this male so called interpreter on the stage. What is he signing? He knows that the deaf cannot vocally boo him off".
She tweeted that he was an embarrassment, that none of his signs made sense, and that he should be removed from the stage.
Mandela died at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg, on Thursday night at the age of 95.
His memorial service was attended by dignitaries and heads of state from around the world, including US president Barack Obama.
Hunt on for fake 'signer' who stood metres from Obama
Johannesburg - The hunt is on for the fake sign language interpreter who took to the stage during the memorial for former president Nelson Mandela on Tuesday, gesticulating gibberish before a global audience of millions and outraging deaf people across the world.
While dignitaries were addressing the crowd in the 95 000-seat FNB stadium, the young, suited man stood within metres of US President Barack Obama. He had an official security pass round his neck, but no-one seems to know who he is, raising serious security questions.
"He was basically gesturing. He didn't follow any of the grammatical rules and structure of the language. He just invented his signs as he went along," said Delphin Hlungwane, an official South African sign language interpreter at DeafSA.
"There was zero percent accuracy. He couldn't even get the basics right. He couldn't even say thank you," she said.
Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane said the government, which was officially in charge of Tuesday's ceremony. is investigating the matter, but has not finished yet because it has been overwhelmed with work preparing for Mandela's funeral on Sunday in Qunu.
Hlungwane said the "interpreter" also failed to impart to television viewers - as he should have done - that the crowd gave a hostile reception to Zuma, who faces an election in less than six months.
"You're supposed to indicate with your facial expressions, even if it's not an exact sign," she said. "He didn't indicate that at all. It just passed him by."
"He was moving his hands around, but there was no meaning in what he used his hands for," Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen, vice president of the World Federation of the Deaf, told AP.
Four sign language experts, including Druchen, said the man was not signing in South African or American sign languages and could not have been signing in any other known sign language because there was no structure to his arm and hand movements.
Complained to ANC
The man also did sign interpretation at an event last year that was attended by President Jacob Zuma.
At that appearance, a deaf person in the audience videotaped the event and gave it to the federation, which analysed the video, prepared a report about it and a submitted a formal complaint to the ANC, Druchen said.
In their complaint, the federation suggested that the man should take the five years of training needed to become a qualified sign language interpreter in South Africa. But the ANC never responded, Druchen said.
Druchen said a fresh complaint will be filed to the ANC about the interpreter he called a "fake" with a demand for an urgent meeting.
The ANC professed no knowledge of the man.
"I don't know this guy. He doesn't work for the ANC. It was a government event. Ask them," spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said.
Govt to probe sign interpreter claims
"Government is looking into this matter, but has not been able to conclude this inquiry due to the demanding schedule of organising events related to the state funeral," he told reporters in Pretoria.
"Government will report publicly on any information it may establish that wishes to assure South Africans that we are clear in defending the rights and dignity of people with disability," he said.
The Sign Language Education and Development in Cape Town said on Wednesday that the interpreter was "a complete and utter fraud".
"If he values his life he must come clean, because the deaf community throughout the world are outraged," director Cara Loening said.
She said not one of his signs at the memorial at the FNB Stadium, in Soweto, on Tuesday, had anything to do with sign language.
"It was like getting somebody off the street and telling them to flap their hands around," said Loening.
"This man made a mockery of the service. How disrespectful for what Madiba stood for."
She said the interpreter, who was on the stage, had no clue about sign language.
"Deaf people had very, very little access to information from the memorial service."
Another female interpreter in the SABC news wraps of the memorial was an accredited, qualified, and accurate sign language interpreter, Loening said.
Andries van Niekerk, spokesperson for the National Institute for the Deaf (NID), said it was unacceptable.
"The interpreter at the service was clearly not competent and did not use hand shapes, movements, or facial expressions typical of South African sign language," he said.
"The NID is saddened that the deaf in attendance [at the service] could not understand what other great statesmen said about the legacy that the father of our nation leaves behind."
Van Niekerk said the deaf community was outraged.
"We are deeply concerned that whoever decided to employ this man as an interpreter, who has ruined the opportunity for the deaf to share in this final homage to a great leader, are making decisions that affect the lives of South African deaf people and causing embarrassment for the entire country."
Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen, vice-president of the World Federation of the Deaf and the first deaf member of South Africa's Parliament, tweeted on Tuesday: "Shame on this male so-called interpreter on the stage. What is he signing? He knows that the deaf cannot vocally boo him off".
She tweeted that he was an embarrassment, that none of his signs made sense, and that he should be removed from the stage.
Mandela died at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg, on Thursday night at the age of 95.
His memorial service was attended by dignitaries and heads of state from around the world, including US president Barack Obama.
Mandela will be buried in Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, on Sunday.
ANC knew interpreter was 'dodgy' - Sati
Johannesburg - South Africa was left with egg on its face after the alleged blunder of a sign language interpreter appointed for the memorial service of former president Nelson Mandela, the SA Translators' Institute (Sati) said on Wednesday.
"We suspect there was something underhand about him. How else was he working on such an important occasion when he did not seem to know what he was doing?" said chair of Sati, Johan Blaauw.
The man interpreted the speeches of scores of dignitaries including US President Barack Obama and President Jacob Zuma at the memorial service at the FNB stadium in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Blaauw said the same man was used to interpret the proceedings at the ANC elective conference in Mangaung last year and there were complaints made against him then.
"The ANC did not do anything," said Blaauw.
"I'm afraid this thing has left the whole of South Africa with egg on its face."
Blaauw said while he was not a sign language interpreter, he was working with a few interpreters and they had discredited the man's use of the language.
"They have looked at the video shots where you can actually see the accredited sign language at the bottom hand of the tv screen," said Blaauw.
"The two did not correspond," he said.
"That person was not using sign language, not even signs accepted in the sign language."
Common grammar
He explained that while sign language semantics differed from country to country, basic grammar of sign language remained relatively similar.
"The common grammar can be recognised across the various sign languages in the world," said Blaauw.
"It's been the response across the world that he wasn't using the language but just making funny gestures."
Blaauw said such things occurred because there was no proper regulation for sign language interpreters.
He called on a regulation to be put in place where sign language interpreters could be registered and accredited.
Anyone who then needed the services of an interpreter could then check on the accreditation register, said Blaauw.
