Mandela memorial interpreter used bogus signs before

• Thamsanqa Jantjie says he suffered schizophrenic episode
• South Africa is investigating the allegations
• Jantjie was paid %2485 to interpret at the ceremony

JOHANNESBURG — The South African sign language interpreter accused of using fake signs at Nelson Mandela's memorial service this week said he suffered a schizophrenic episode at the event, but another interpreter says it was not the first time Thamsanqa Jantjie has done bogus interpretations.

Jantjie, who has been called an imposter by sign experts, told Johannesburg's Star newspaper Thursday that he hallucinated and heard voices during the memorial service.

"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."

An interpreter with the Deaf Federation of South Africa says Mandela's service wasn't the first time Jantjie was criticized for his work interpreting at an event. Francois Deysel, a sign language interpreter with DFSA, said he watched a video of Jantjie signing at the 100th anniversary celebration of the African National Conference, South Africa's ruling party, in January 2012.

After watching the video, Deysel and his colleagues concluded, "There was no sign language used. It was only slapping of hands and movement of arms."

Deysel said the federation notified the ANC and recommended that Jantjie needed to get basic sign language training.

When Deysel saw that it was Jantjie interpreting at the Mandela memorial, "my reaction was embarrassment for this country that we're going to go through by having this person on stage," he said.

The ANC says on its website that the government — not the ANC — hired Jantjie for the Mandela memorial. It said it "had not been aware of any of (the) complaints regarding the quality of services, qualification or reported illnesses of Mr. Jantjie."

In South Africa, sign language interpreters are not legally required to get certified, said Marion Boers, executive director of the South African Translators' Institute, the only organization in South Africa with a formal sign language certification program. In the entire country, only seven or eight interpreters are certified through SATI, and Jantjie is not one of them, Boers said.

The Mandela memorial incident prompted an apology Thursday by a South African Cabinet minister who said a mistake was made in hiring Jantjie. Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu apologized to South Africa's deaf community during a news conference but denied that the country felt embarrassed by the controversy.

"I don't think he was just picked up on the street. He went to a school for the deaf," she said.

In a separate interview with the Associated Press, Jantjie said that while he was on stage at the FNB Stadium he saw visions of angels. He told the AP he has been violent and was hospitalized in a mental health facility for more than a year.

Jantjie stood approximately 3 feet from President Obama and other world leaders during Tuesday's ceremony to honor Mandela, and the state of Jantjie's mental health that day will raise serious security questions for South African authorities.

Jantjie told the Star newspaper he was paid R850, or about $85, to interpret at the ceremony.

"Life is unfair. This illness is unfair. Anyone who doesn't understand this illness will think that I'm just making this up," he said.

He said that as a result of the episode, his ability to hear and interpret was impaired, but he felt that given the gravity of the occasion, he couldn't leave.

On the day of the memorial service, Jantjie was due to get a regular six-month mental health checkup to determine whether the medication he takes was working, whether it needed to be changed or whether he needed to be kept at a mental health facility for treatment, the AP reported.

Sign language experts claim that Jantjie's interpretations for numerous dignitaries, heads of state and even members of the extended Mandela family amounted to "gibberish."

"He wasn't even doing anything, There was not one sign there. Nothing. He was literally flapping his arms around," Cara Loening, director of Sign Language Education and Development in Cape Town, told the Agence France-Presse news service.

Asked if he was happy with his performance by radio station Talk Radio 702 on Thursday, Jantjie said, "Absolutely! What I have been doing, I think I have been a champion of sign language. I have interpreted many big events. Not only the event that's in question now."

He said these events included political news conferences and the funeral of Albertina Sisulu, the widow of anti-apartheid activist and Robben Islander Walter Sisulu.

He refused to explain details of his qualifications and referred such questions to the company that booked him for the event, a company he called SA Interpreters. Not a lot is known about that company.

AP journalists who visited the address that Jantjie provided for SA Interpreters found a different company there where managers said they knew nothing about the firm.

Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu said Thursday that government officials have tried to track down the company that contracted Jantjie for the memorial service but that the owners "have vanished into thin air."

Kim Hjelmgaard reported from London, follow him on Twitter: @khjelmgaard