South Africa formally apologizes for fake sign language interpreter 
 
 By Agence France-Presse 
 
 Friday, December 13, 2013 7:18 EST 
 
 The South African government formally apologized Friday for any offense caused by the sign language interpreter it hired for Nelson Mandela’s memorial, later exposed as a fake. 
 
 “We sincerely apologize to the deaf community and to all South Africans for any offense that may have been suffered,” Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile said in a statement. 
 
 The country’s junior minister for disabilities, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, admitted on Thursday the government had made a “mistake”, but defended the interpreter. 
 
 Enraged sign language experts said that Thamsanqa Jantjie’s signing in front of U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders gathered at Soweto’s Soccer City stadium had amounted to little more than “flapping his arms around.” 
 
 Jantjie later blamed his behavior on a schizophrenic attack. 
 
 Contacted by AFP by telephone on Friday, he refused to discuss the incident, saying he was too busy drafting an explanation to the government. 
 
 “Yesterday I explained to all the media … (and) today I am busy with the government that want my side of the story,” he said. 
 
 Minister Mashatile said parliament would pass a new law early next year to regulate the profession “so that this kind of incident doesn’t happen ever again.” 
 
 Bogopane-Zulu said Thursday the interpreter was not fake, but may have had problems with English or was overworked and tired. 
 
 South Africa’s deaf organizations, however, said this was not a one-off incident, claiming they had complained to the government about Jantjie before. 

 People around the world are talking about Thamsanqa Jantjie, the supposed sign language interpreter who made nonsensical signs while President Obama and others spoke at a memorial service for Nelson Mandela in South Africa earlier this week. But only Jimmy Kimmel brought in a sign language expert to translate exactly what Jantjie was saying to the crowds. 
 
 Justin Maurer -- who has signed for some of "Jimmy Kimmel Live's" concerts, including Hanson -- stood onstage next to Kimmel and watched clips of Jantjie doing his thing and attempted to relate what was actually being said. Sure enough, it had no relation to the words that were coming out of the speakers' mouths. 
 
 "I support basic salutations here salutations," Mauer translated while watching a clip of Mandela's great-granddaughter Phumla Mandela. "Inside joining in this week's cigarette inside to prove and on and on. To support, I would please to say from me to you. Talking to you so far." 
 
 GOLDEN GLOBES: The complete list of nominees 
 
 A second clip translated as: "Hello. Welcome so far. Well cigarette join bringing in different to you. Circle. And I would like to pray this offering. Basically this is fun, all of these balls to prove this is good. I'm sorry." 
 
 Mauer explained to Kimmel: "It's complete gibberish." 
 
 "In your opinion, does this guy know sign language at all?" Kimmel asked. 
 
 "No, not at all," Mauer said. 
 
 Jantjie has subsequently defended himself, telling the Johannesburg newspaper the Star that he suffers from schizophrenia and started hearing voices and hallucinating while on stage. It was because of those hallucinations, he said, that he made the nonsense gestures. 
 
 [For the record, 12:56 p.m., Dec. 12: A previous version of this post spelled the sign language interpreter's name as Mauer. It is actually Justin Maurer.] 
 
 ALSO: 
 
 Tavis Smiley's bumpy 10th anniversary with PBS 
 
 Taylor Schilling: 'Orange Is the New Black' nod is like Christmas 
 
 Another longtime 'Law & Order: SVU' cast member takes retirement
– By now, we all know the sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela's memorial service wasn't actually interpreting anything. But what was Thamsanqa Jantjie actually signing? To answer that question, Jimmy Kimmel brought his own sign language interpreter onstage last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the LA Times reports. According to Justin Maurer, here are some of the things Jantjie signed: "I support basic salutations here salutations. Inside joining in this week's cigarette inside to prove and on and on. To support, I would please to say from me to you. Talking to you so far." "Hello. Welcome so far. Well cigarette join bringing in different to you. Circle. And I would like to pray this offering. Basically this is fun, all of these balls to prove this is good. I'm sorry." "It's complete gibberish," Maurer said, concluding that Jantjie doesn't know sign language "at all." Meanwhile, South Africa today formally apologized for the debacle, AFP reports. But the country's junior minister for disabilities yesterday insisted Jantjie is a real interpreter who was probably just tired. (Jantjie himself says he suffers from schizophrenia.) The country's arts and culture minister, however, today said the interpretation profession will be regulated in the future "so that this kind of incident doesn’t happen ever again."