Los Angeles Times ......
[h=1]Schizophrenic served as sign interpreter at Nelson Mandela's memorial[/h]
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The sign language interpreter who stood a few feet from President
Obama and other world leaders during
Nelson Mandela's memorial service acknowledged Thursday being a schizophrenic with a history of violence.
Thamsanqa Jantjie told South African media he had a full-blown episode while he was standing on the stage during Tuesday's memorial, seeing angels flying into the stadium and hearing voices.
He said he lost concentration and, as panic rose, kept gesturing. “There was nothing I could do. I was alone in a very dangerous situation," he 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.”
Opposition leaders and critics called on the government to explain who hired Jantjie.
Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, deputy minister for women, children and people with disabilities, said a mistake had been made using Jantjie and that the owners of
SA Interpreters, the company that provided him, had "vanished into thin air."
http://www.latimes.com/world/worldn...preter-schizophrenic-20131212,0,4590706.story