Many mourners miss out
Long lines of people waited, some of them for two days, to see the body of former South African President Nelson Mandela lying in state in Pretoria. But thousands more were turned away disappointed as viewing ended Friday.
Tempers frayed and scuffles broke out in front of the Union Buildings, the seat of government, where the casket spent three days, and at locations where people lined up to take shuttle buses to the site. Police were deployed to control the crowds, with some people trying to break through police barricades at the Union Buildings to get to see the body.
The casket left the Union Buildings for the final time Friday afternoon, draped in a South African flag. Thousands lined the streets hoping for a last glimpse of the cortege on its way back to the military hospital in Pretoria where it was to spend its final night before being flown Saturday to Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. Mandela will be buried Sunday in his home village of Qunu.
Los Angeles Times
South Africa’s government was confronted Friday with a new and chilling allegation about the bogus sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial: He was reportedly accused of murder 10 years ago.
Officials said they were investigating the revelation by the national eNCA TV news station. But they were unable, or unwilling, to explain why a man who says he is schizophrenic with violent tendencies was allowed to get within arm’s length of President Barack Obama and other world leaders.
Investigators probing Thamsanqa Jantjie “will compile a comprehensive report,” said Phumla Williams, the top government spokeswoman. But she did not say how long the investigation would take and insisted details would not be released until it was completed.
“We are not going to sweep it under the carpet,” Williams said. “We want to own up if there is a mistake, but we don’t want to be dishonest” to Jantjie.
A reporter found Jantjie at a makeshift bar owned by his cousin on the outskirts of Soweto Friday, near his concrete house close to shacks and an illegal dump where goats pick at grass between the trash. Asked about the murder allegation, Jantjie turned and walked away without saying anything.
A day earlier, he said that he had been violent “a lot” in the past, has schizophrenia and hallucinated during the Mandela memorial that angels were descending into the stadium. He also apologized for his performance, but defended his interpreting as “the best in the world.”
His assertion was ridiculed by deaf advocates who said he didn’t know how to sign “Mandela” or “thank you.”
The outcome of the reported murder case that eNCA said dated from 2003 was unclear, and the television report did not disclose any details.
Officials at the Johannesburg court where the murder charge was reportedly lodged were not in their offices Friday afternoon and did not respond to email requests seeking comment.
There were no records of a murder case involving Jantjie at South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority, but spokesman Nathi Mncube said that doesn’t necessarily mean Jantjie was never a suspect.
“I cannot confirm that the guy was charged, but I cannot deny it, either,” he said. “There are no records right now.”
Jantjie also faced other lesser criminal charges in the past, eNCA reported. In the interview, he blamed his past violent episodes on his schizophrenia, but declined to provide details.
The fiasco surrounding the use of Jantjie to provide sign language translation before a worldwide television audience has turned into an international embarrassment for South Africa, whose ruling party, the African National Congress, and president, Jacob Zuma, have already lost popularity because of corruption scandals and other public grievances. But the ANC is far more powerful than the opposition and Zuma, who was booed at the Mandela memorial, is likely to be its candidate in elections next year.
The U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said Friday that “we’re all very upset” about Jantjie, who was just 3 feet from Obama at the memorial service for Mandela, who died Dec. 5 at 95.
Thomas-Greenfield told reporters in Kenya that U.S. officials are concerned about security and how Jantjie could have gotten so close to world leaders. She said officials were also dismayed because people watching around the world who needed sign language weren’t able to understand what was said at the ceremony. She called the problem “extraordinarily sad.”
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