We’ve all seen the story flying around the Internet, but here’s a little more background.

Via, the BBC, Wilma Newhoudt, South Africa’s “first deaf female MP” tweeted this during the live telecast, which was then reported in the MSM at large:

Newhoudt, who is also the “National Vice Chairperson” of DeafSA, pointed to this Facebook post that details the interpreter’s errors:

Press statement on the Fake Interpreter
The so called “interpreter” who interpreted at the Official memorial service for late former president Nelson Mandela at FNB stadium has been dubbed the “fake interpreter” and the Deaf community is in outrage.
This man is not in fact a recognised, professional South Sign Language Interpreter. He is not known by the Deaf Community in South Africa nor by the South African Sign Language interpreters working in the field.
To the best of our knowledge he has not undergone any formal training in South African Sign Language or Interpreting offered by any recognised institution which offers these training courses.
The following is an explanation of the grammatical errors made by the ‘fake interpreter’:
The Interpreter did not make use of facial expressions, In South African Sign Language, facial expressions are an important part of communication. The facial expressions you use while doing a sign will affect the meaning of that sign. Facial expressions are an example of a set of behaviors called “non-manual markers.” Non-manual markers include facial expressions, head tilt, head nod, head shake, shoulder raising, mouth morphemes, and other non-signed signals that influence the meaning of your signs.
Facial expression plays a very important part in the meaning of a sign. The same exact hand-shape and movement can totally change meaning because of the facial expression that is used to accompany it.
Not only the hands, but also the face, the eyes, and the whole body work together to communicate in sign language.
From the aforementioned explanation it is clear that the interpreter is not in contact with the Deaf Community to see how non manual markers are used.
The signs (self invented signs) the interpreter used are not used in South African Sign Language and it is a total mockery of the language. The interpreter did not use the established, recognised signs for President Mandela, President Zuma, President Thabo Mbeki and South Africa amongst many others. This proves that he is not involved in the Deaf community and doesn’t know South African Sign Language. In linguistic terms, sign languages are as rich and complex as any oral language, despite the common misconception that they are not “real languages”. Professional linguist have studied many sign languages and found that they exhibit the fundamental properties that exist in all languages.
Sign languages are not mime – in other words, signs are conventional, often arbitrary and do not necessarily have a visual relationship to their referent, much as most oral language is not onomatopoeic. While iconicity is more systematic and widespread in sign languages than in spoken ones, the difference is not categorical. The visual modality allows the human preference for close connections between form and meaning, present but suppressed in oral languages, to be more fully expressed. This does not mean that sign languages are a visual rendition of an oral language. They have complex grammars of their own, and can be used to discuss any topic, from the simple and concrete to the lofty and abstract.
The interpreter was not able to use South African Sign Language from English into , meaningful semantic units.
Handshapes used were meaningless and basic distinctions between signs are made in terms of Handshape (or Handform), Orientation, Location (or Place of Articulation), Movement, and Non-manual expression.
No classifiers were used and classifiers are common linguistic features of many sign languages are the occurrence of classifiers, a high degree of inflection and a topic comment syntax More than oral languages, sign languages can convey meaning by simultaneous means, e.g. by the use of space, two manual articulators, and the signer’s face and body.
This ‘fake interpreter’ has made a mockery of South African Sign Language and has disgraced the South African Sign Language interpreting profession. The organisers of the memorial service, and indeed any event, should have contacted organisations who coordinate South African Sign Language interpreting services to secure a professional, trained experienced interpreter.
Sincerely,
Bruno Druchen
National Director

For more information, Ms. Newhoudt is answering questions on the matter via her Twitter account.