Mandela Interpreter Was Charged With Murder, Rape & Kidnapping [Details]

The South African sign language interpreter accused of using fake signs at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service has a long criminal history.

Thamsanqa Jantjie made headlines this week after he was caught doing bogus sign language interpretations during the memorial. Jantjie claims he suffers from schizophrenic and was hallucinating during the ceremony.

Now his criminal background has surfaced. South Africa’s eNCA reported that over the past 20 years Jantjie he has been charged with murder, rape, theft, and kidnapping.Jantjie was charged with rape in 1994, theft in 1995, housebreaking in 1997, malicious damage to property in 1998, and murder, attempted murder, and kidnapping in 2003. Most of the charges were dropped after authorities ruled Jantjie mentally unfit to stand trial.

Jantjie was only convicted on the 1995 charge of theft. It’s unclear what he stole or how much time he served. When eNCA found the court file for his 2003 murder and kidnapping case, all of its contents were missing.