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Appearance at the Mandela memorial
On 10 December 2013 Jantjie served as the official sign-language interpreter at the South African Government's memorial service for the late Nelson Mandela. The memorial took place at the FNB soccer stadium in Johannesburg, the largest stadium in Africa, and was broadcast to many millions of television viewers worldwide. Jantjie was hired by the organizers to translate four hours' worth of speeches into South African Sign Language (SASL). During the speeches, he stood next to the lectern on the stage, so he was clearly visible on images broadcast to the television audience and displayed on electronic screens for the spectators in the stadium. Jantjie made movements with his hands and arms that superficially resembled sign language, but in fact did not make any sense to observers who knew sign language. He remained in position for the entire duration of the memorial.

In South Africa, sign-language interpreters are employed more frequently at public events than in many other countries and at many state events their presence is mandatory.

Protests
During the event, observers competent in sign language commented publicly on the incomprehensible gestures Jantjie was using. They included the chairman of the South African Deaf Association "DeafSA" and Wilma Newhoudt, the first deaf Member of the South African Parliament. Even outside South Africa, there were complaints about his behaviour and the disrespect it seemed to show to deaf people. Messages on internet social networks such as Twitter were picked up the following day by the international news agencies and discussed worldwide.

During the memorial, prominent deaf South Africans complained that Jantjie had previously been employed at least one official event of the ruling party ANC as a sign-language interpreter. The DeafSA Chairman said the association had sent an official protest to the ANC after Jantjie displayed apparent incompetence at an election party conference of the ANC in December 2012. The ruling party has not replied to the letter. The CEO of the Disabled Association of Disabled People South Africa (DPSA) also announced that Jantjie had attracted complaints as an incompetent interpreter at nationwide televised events for the ANC. After the memorial, DeafSA issued a joint complaint with DPSA, the South African Deaf Union (SADU) and the South African National Deaf Association (SANDA), protesting at Jantjie's appearance at the memorial service and describing him as a "charlatan" who brought the memorial service and the profession of sign-language interpreter into disrepute. The National Deaf Institute of South Africa (NID) also issued a protest.

Prominent sign-language interpreters protested against Jantjie's involvement in the memorial, condemning him for harming their profession and disrespecting deaf people in South Africa. The chairman of the South African Translators Institute (SATI) confirmed that they had made complaints to the ANC about Jantjie, but had not received any response. According to the chairman of the funding organization for South African Sign Language Sign Language Education and Development (SLED), Jantjie was a "complete impostor" and should not have had any involvement with sign-language interpretation.

Jantjie's self-defence
After journalists confirmed his identity, Jantjie gave several interviews in which he defended himself with different and sometimes bizarre statements against the fierce criticism of his performance at the memorial. He stated that he had suffered from schizophrenia for several years, which is why he had to take medication. He had suffered a sudden attack while he stood on stage at the stadium. He had lost his concentration, seen angels descending into the stadium and occupying the stage, and had heard voices. He said he tried not to panic, because he knew that he was surrounded by armed guards. Also, because of the historical significance of the event, he had not dared leave the stage. He said he felt that the situation was very dangerous for him, because he had often been violent in previous schizophrenic attacks. If DeafSA was of the opinion that he had interpreted incorrectly, then he would apologize. However, he claimed to be a "master of sign language" and found it completely incomprehensible that his competence was now suddenly called into question when he had already been interpreted in sign language at numerous high-profile events with prominent speakers such as President Zuma. He was not been aware of complaints being made against him following these events.

Reactions of the government
The official responsible for the interests of people with disabilities, deputy minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, said on in an initial interview on 12 December that nobody had the right to call Jantjie a false sign-language interpreter and pointed out that there was no standard universal form sign language. She claimed that Jantjie have attended a school for the deaf and learned sign language there. Jantjie was not the main interpreter at the memorial, but worked only for the Deaf in the stadium, while two other interpreters had been employed for the broadcast by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). In another radio interview, she defended Jantjie by claiming that DeafSA was "not the guardian of South African Sign Language" but a controversial organization, because historically it had been run for white deaf people. This was why a second deaf organization, SANDA, had founded for the rural black population. She said that government policy was to reduce the domination of South African Sign Language (SASL) and spoke of "hundreds of dialects" in the sign language of the country. Deaf people learned different forms of the language, depending on the school they attended. She said that only "some" deaf people had not understood Jantjie. It appeared that his comprehension of English was not sufficient, but English had no priority over other South African languages. Furthermore, her ministry was not responsible for the selection of an interpreter. In another interview, she downplayed the harm caused to the deaf in South Africa by Jantjie, saying that many of the rural black population did not understand sign language anyway, because they attended little or no school.