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,  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,” Bruno Druchen, DeafSA’s national director, 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.
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.
Meanwhile, the deaf community was yesterday outraged by the fake interpreter.

“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 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.”

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. — Sapa