In another spectacular embarrassment for the African National Congress-South African Communist Party regime ruling South Africa, media outlets around the world reported that the bogus “sign-language interpreter” who stood just a few feet from Obama at Nelson Mandela’s memorial participated in a brutal mob attack, complete with barbaric “necklacing.” The infamous ANC murder and torture tactic, publicly endorsed by Mandela’s second wife Winnie to “liberate” the nation, involves placing a gasoline-filled tire around a victim’s neck before setting it ablaze and watching the target die a horrifying death.
The latest stunning revelations about the fraudulent ANC translator, Thamsanqa Jantjie (shown), were confirmed internationally by the Associated Press on December 16 following days of deeply embarrassing reports. While the scandal was originally treated as more of an embarrassing gaffe, the recent exposure of Jantjie’s admitted violent history has sparked fresh questions and security concerns while shining the international media spotlight on the largely overlooked reality of South Africa today. An investigation into how it could have happened at such a high-profile event is ongoing.
The most recent twist in the saga also comes after reporters documented the fact that the bogus interpreter, who meaninglessly flapped his arms around on stage at Mandela’s memorial service, has worked at other high-profile ANC events. He claims to suffer from mental illness. Among other public appearances, Jantjie served as an “interpreter” at the infamous ANC centenary celebration last year, where South African President Jacob Zuma enthusiastically sang a song about his regime using machine guns to slaughter the white Afrikaner minority.
According to the AP, which cited a relative and three friends of the supposed “translator,” Jantjie was part of a mob that “necklaced” two people in 2003. He never went on trial over the murders, however, because authorities concluded that he was not mentally fit to stand trial, the AP reported. “It was a community thing, what you call mob justice, and I was also there,” Jantjie was quoted as saying by the Sunday Times newspaper in Johannesburg. Instead of prison, he was reportedly institutionalized for mental illness before being released less than two years later. Others in the mob faced murder charges.
An investigation into the circumstances of Jantjie’s high-profile employment as a “translator” at the memorial service and other events is supposedly underway after he was accused of gesticulating incoherently by sign-language experts. The Washington Post implausibly blamed the legacy of apartheid, which ended two decades ago, for South African authorities’ embarrassment on the global stage. After being exposed as a fraud, however, Jantjie told reporters that he was hallucinating throughout the event, blaming schizophrenia for his alleged visions of angels descending on the service.
Upon release from the institution where he was held for his participation in “necklacing” the two victims, Jantjie returned to his home near Soweto, and eventually secured a job doing sign-language “translations” for the ANC. In a widely cited interview last week, Jantjie also admitted that he had been involved in “a lot” of violence. While he declined to offer specifics, he said his mental illness was to blame. The gruesome 2003 “necklacing” incident happened very close to his home, according to news reports.
The infamous terror tactic, developed and popularized by the ANC, was most commonly used before 1994 by the outfit and its Soviet-backed Communist Party partners. The vast majority of the “necklacing” reign of murder and torture was aimed at blacks suspected of opposing the takeover of South Africa by the two organizations, both of which Mandela helped lead. The revolutionary’s wife at the time, Winnie, was a fervent supporter of the terror tactics, publicly saying: “Together, hand-in-hand with our sticks of matches, with our necklaces we shall liberate this country.” The brutal torture and murder method was also sometimes used in tribal disputes in the area, according to the AP.
South African analysts who spoke with The New American said the entire scandal surrounding the interpreter served as an excellent illustration of where the nation is going under ANC and SACP rule. The alliance of the two parties, both of which counted Mandela as a senior leader, still maintains a stranglehold over national politics. And despite the largely rosy picture of South Africa today painted in much of the establishment press, the incident should serve as a wake-up call to the world. Top experts say the nation is speeding down the road to genocide and communist tyranny.
The same bogus translator also worked at the ANC’s 100-year anniversary celebration in early 2012. During the controversial ceremony, current South African ruler Zuma sang a song inciting genocide against the European-descent minority in South Africa. The crowd — including members of the ANC’s armed terror wing, Umkhonto We Sizwe, founded and led by Mandela — was whipped into a frenzy of dancing and hate amid the singing. The nation’s leader essentially declared what many analysts interpreted as a declaration of war on white South Africans.
“We are going to shoot them with the machine gun,” Zuma sang enthusiastically as the same bogus interpreter from Mandela’s memorial gesticulated. “They are going to run. You are a Boer (Afrikaner, or white farmer descended from northern Europeans, commonly used to refer to all whites). We are going to hit them, and you are going to run. Shoot the Boer…. The cabinet will shoot them with the machine gun. The cabinet will shoot them with the machine gun. Shoot the Boer.” At Mandela’s funeral over the weekend, Zuma again sang hate songs aimed at the European-descent minority.
Despite the videos being widely available, even appearing on television, virtually none of the establishment press outside of South Africa reported the incitement to genocide. Still today, most of the world remains largely unaware. While falsely portrayed as a “struggle” song when mentioned at all, the lyrics themselves suggest that could not be the case; during the violent communist struggle against the apartheid regime, the cabinet was composed of whites.
While the official investigation of the fake translator continues, critics have expressed alarm that a man involved in gruesome murders could have been standing just three feet from President Obama and other world leaders. The ANC has largely deflected questions, but the AP suggested that an ANC leader who runs a “translation” company may have been somehow involved in getting Jantjie the jobs — at least earlier. Corruption, of course, is rampant.
As the global media focuses in on Jantjie, however, analysts say the big picture is being overlooked. Few outside of South Africa, for example, are aware of the fact that the widely respected organization Genocide Watch put the nation at stage 6 out of 8 on the road to genocide: the planning and preparation phase. The next step, which countless South Africans believe may be coming soon, is extermination of the target group, in this case, Afrikaners and whites more broadly.
“There is thus strong circumstantial evidence of government support for the campaign of forced displacement and atrocities against white farmers and their families,” said Genocide Watch chief Dr. Gregory Stanton, who himself worked against apartheid and had previously warned of a coming genocide in Rwanda before it happened. “There is direct evidence of government incitement to genocide.”
Among other suggestions, Stanton has called on Western nations to accept white refugees from South Africa while urging the target population not give up its guns. The end goal of the atrocities, he said, is to impose communism on South Africa. So far, the global media has largely refused to report the warning signs, and many analysts believe that the press will continue to ignore the looming threats — even if and when the situation spirals out of control. The New American has reported extensively on the issues for decades. Some of the articles can be read by clicking on the links below.
Photo of Thamsanqa Jantjie in an interview in Johannesburg, South Africa: AP Images
Alex Newman, a foreign correspondent for The New American, is normally based in Europe. He can be reached at anewman@thenewamerican.com.