State memorial service Death of Nelson Mandela

1 state memorial service

1.1 sign language interpretation
1.2 booing of president jacob zuma
1.3 obama–castro handshake
1.4 obama–thorning-schmidt–cameron selfie

state memorial service

the official memorial service held @ fnb stadium in johannesburg on tuesday, 10 december 2013 commencing @ 11:00 local time (utc+2). 91 heads of state , government; , 10 retired presidents expected attend service.

sign language interpretation

in characterised national embarrassment, during memorial service became evident official sign language interpreter, thamsanqa jantjie, fake. deafsa, south african association deaf, stated jantjie had made mockery of south african sign language , deaf community in outrage . jantjie, stood on memorial stage alongside world leaders throughout event, made meaningless hand gestures did not reflect established signs. how jantjie had obtained job , received security clearance raised questions bureaucratic mismanagement.

on 12 december, jantjie apologised if had offended anyone, explaining performance impaired due hallucination brought on schizophrenia. added suffers violent tendencies , stated had been hospitalised in mental health facility 19 months, beginning around 2006. nonetheless, maintained performed well, calling himself champion of sign language .

the same day, deputy minister women, children , people disabilities hendrietta bogopane-zulu admitted, in process, , in speed of event, mistake happened. however, rejected view jantjie fraud, stating, should not fake interpreter because have basic sign language translation qualification. started off , got tired in process ... [h]e has interpreted deaf people in court before , able communicate deaf friends well. s (on day) did not sign expected of him. south african news broadcaster enca alleges between 1994 , 2003 jantjie charged, not sentenced, various crimes ranging rape , housebreaking attempted murder , kidnapping. according report sentenced 3 years in prison theft other charges dropped judged mentally unfit stand trial.

booing of president jacob zuma

south african president jacob zuma unexpectedly booed , jeered in crowd, though other sections cheered him. booing faded when zuma addressed crowd. negative reaction reportedly stemmed public anger on corruption scandals have tainted zuma , government. current anc leadership viewed not living mandela s celebrated legacy.

obama–castro handshake

united states president barack obama shook hands cuban leader raúl castro, first such encounter between sitting u.s. , cuban heads of government since bill clinton , fidel castro shook hands @ u.n. in 2000. gesture prompted criticism republican politicians in washington. congresswoman ileana ros-lehtinen, cuban-american opponent of castro government, said: handshake handshake, when leader of free world shakes bloody hand of ruthless dictator raul castro, becomes propaganda coup tyrant. senator john mccain compared obama–castro handshake british prime minister neville chamberlain s handshake adolf hitler when 2 in process of negotiating munich agreement in 1938 saying, neville chamberlain shook hands hitler. gives raul propaganda continue prop dictatorial, brutal regime, s . cuban government welcomed gesture, although white house said had been unplanned.

obama–thorning-schmidt–cameron selfie

along obama, helle thorning-schmidt , david cameron—the respective leaders of usa, denmark , uk faced criticism on social media had behaved inappropriately after posing selfie taken using thorning-schmidt s mobile phone. defending actions, thorning-schmidt said, there lots of pictures taken day, , thought bit fun. maybe shows when meet heads of state , government, people have fun. cameron said being polite when thorning-schmidt asked him take part in picture.