Mandela memorial interpreter turns out to be a fraud, then a schizophrenic, then a fraud

Disclaimer - I have a huge love and adoration for Nelson Mandela, and will never forget the sacrifices he and his cadres made for South Africa (even if I wanted to, I couldn't, Every second monument in the country is named after him. Nelson Mandela bridge, Nelson Mandela Cup, Nelson Mandela Bay, Nelson Mandela university, Nelson Mandela stadium, Nelson Mandela amphitheater, the face of our currency etc). With that said, I'm one of those people who, even in tragedy, can't help but laugh, even when something's funny... and this was absurd!

Can't make it up - like K'naan once said "TIA - this is Africa"


www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/12/12/mandela-sign-language-interpreter-thamsanqa-jantjie/3995875/?sf20544908=1

it has since emerged that he is being investigated for fraud amounting to R1.5 million, about £90, 000. Can only hope Mandela's family treat him with a greater sense of respect than the joke that has occurred...

Read about this the other day.

Wondered how long it'd take before people would find a way to urine on his legacy, did think they'd at least get past the funeral though and it'd be squabbling family to strike first.

I also thought it would be the squabbling family. But it seems he sorted that out on his deathbed - no one says no to Mandela, not even squabbling family. So I suspect when he told them to get right, they got right

Doesn't get much better at the final service either, as apartheid is reciprocally re-enacted:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25413501

Yeh, that's exactly how Madiba would've wanted it......

I like Tutu, but that's a pretty bold-faced lie. Quite a few Afrikaners were there. Not least of which Roelf Meyer. Also worth noting the funeral was a family affair. Held in rural Qunu, which is out it's way for most Afrikaans people, and most people in general. If Afrikaners couldn't be bothered to attend his memorial in Jo'burg, it's a big jump to assume they really wanted to go to his funeral all the way in Qunu, which until a few years ago didn't even have a road. Th

Cheers for the more informed update, kingy.

The funny thing about Mandela's death is that it's sparking a revolution against the very party he devoted his life to.

Made worse by the fact that the revolt's slogan uses words from the great man "if the ANC does to you what the apartheid government did to you, do to them what you did to the apartheid government"...

It's potentially a big five years in our history coming up. A request to the UN was made which if given would give us ownership of a greater amount of subterranean land, and all its minerals and marine life, there's also a renewable energy industry in the pipe line which combined with our new found minerals could cut our unemployment levels to single digits percentages for the first time in our history. I'm not sure the ANC is the party to lead us there. Many South Africans consider Mandela the modern-day Moses, I think it's a pretty apt analogy, for the ANC as well... They may have delivered the country from the precipice, but we need something new to deliver us to the promised land.

Problem is, for all the criticism given to the ANC, at least they have proven they have the will, if not always the skill. their official oppositions election manifesto seems to oscillate between "We won't do what the ANC did" or "We will do what the ANC does, just better"