White South Africans' uneasy love affair with Nelson Mandela

Mandela Signer: I'm Mentally Ill   After worldwide outrage over the discovery that the South African sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s funeral was using fake signs, he has come forward to say he suffered a schizophrenic episode. Thamsanqa Jantjie told a South African newspaper he was overcome by a schizophrenic episode and was hallucinating and hearing voices. "There was nothing I could do. I was alone in a very dangerous situation," Jantjie said. "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." In another interview with the AP, Jantjie said he was seeing angels coming into the stadium.  Defending his actions, he told the South African newspaper, “life is unfair. This illness is unfair. Anyone who doesn't understand this illness will think that I'm just making this up."

Mandela Signer Had Erred Before   Perhaps third time will be a charm. Nelson Mandela’s memorial service wasn’t the first time sign language interpreter Thamsanqa Jantjie failed to convey the words being spoken, says NBC. The 34-year-old, who blames his mistake on “violent schizophrenia,” performed with fake signs a year ago during a speech of South African President Jacob Zuma. A letter from the Deaf Federation of South Africa following the January 2012 event reads that "100 percent of the information was omitted" from Zuma’s speech. Jantije’s performance came under fire Tuesday when deaf groups revealed that his gestures during the speeches at Mandela’s memorial were “meaningless.”