South Africa (catch all)

[carl]

David:

Further down in that string of ITV reports, various RSA gov authorities 'claim' they don't know who that guy was. I guess he just shows up.

The US Secret Service is going to love hearing that.

[davidbfpo]

Carl,

For the moment this story is not going away!

Within the linked report is:

....defenders of the ANC-linked interpreter claimed that he was signing in South Africa's Zulu language.

Citing a UK academic expert on sign language:

Professor Woll dismissed such claims, allegedly made by the ANC: "The very fact that this was explained as a person signing in Zulu suggests that actually whoever employed him knew nothing about this person's abilities."

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...terpreter.html

[carl]

Anything to avoid admitting that some esteemed minister of something got scammed by his idiot nephew or his sister forced him to use the idiot nephew.

Geesh, when that guy was 'signing' he looked like a penguin at the zoo.

[Firn]

The interpreter's reaction was certainly more spirited compared to your typical Western one:

He told the BBC that during the event, he had had a breakdown, and started hallucinating that angels were coming down into the crowd.

"I started knowing that I am not real, because it's not something possible. But believe me I saw them coming on stage.

"From that moment, it was not myself," he said, saying he had becoming concerned for the safety of people in the stadium and was "absolutely" aware that he was not signing correctly.

His employer, SA interpreters vanished. It is interesting to note that he was employed before in some occasions by the ANC, in which 'nobody complained' about his capabilities, which is rather telling about the quality of internal processes. How he could get his security (and professional) clearing for the funeral is matter of SA state affairs so the ANC can't comment on it. Which is of course fully understandable since the two are obviously clearly distinct entities.

[slapout9]

I just saw a report on NBC where they actually interviewed this person and he admitted he was being treated for schizophrenia and he has a history of violence.......so they let this person stand next to our President???? Like they say you just cant make this stuff up.

(Added by Moderator) Try BBC interview:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25346253

[davidbfpo]

Now BBC report SA police were at the fake's house yesterday to arrest him under mental health provisions, except the media got there first. Surely the government wouldn't silence him that way, that's so old style Soviet repression.

Just spotted on Twitter, so perhaps we should be wary? The faker has a record, note accused, not convicted and read the link for more:

accused of: theft (1995), house-breaking (1997), malicious damage to property (1998), rape (1998), murder, kidnapping(2003)

Link:http://www.enca.com/south-africa/interpreter

[Firn]

One thing is certain, every way you look at the issue the SA government doesn't come out looking competent. It really goes from the hilarious to the ridicolous and further to the insane and just doesn't stop giving.

Being accused of grave crimes on several uncorrelated occasions is certainly a bad sign, even if he never was convicted. Getting a men with such a trackrecord in accusations and no track record in sign interpretation competence on the stage of the biggest SA political event of the decade right next to some of the most important men in the world is quite the sign that many screwed up their job very badly indeed.

Possibly there was a divine intervention even before the angles came flying down into the stadium...