SIGNS OF INCOMPETENCE: IEC under fire after unqualified sign language interpreter used at election workshop

A complaint to the CRL Rights Commission and questions over the IEC’s vetting process have intensified scrutiny of an incident in which a man who admits he lacks full sign language skills interpreted at an election workshop in Pietermaritzburg.

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A complaint has been lodged with the CRL (Cultural, Religious and Linguistic) Rights Commission against the IEC over its use of an unqualified South African Sign Language Interpreter (Sasli) at its disability election workshop at Msunduzi City Hall in Pietermaritzburg on 16 October. 

This has angered the deaf community, which has labelled Thabo Nxele a “fake sign language interpreter”.

Nxele has been described as worse than Thamsanqa Jantjie, although others said he was better. Jantjie made global headlines for signing what was described as “gibberish” for former US President Barack Obama during the late President Nelson Mandela’s state memorial service in 2013. Jantjie attributed his “fake” signing to schizophrenia. 

Unlike Jantjie, Nxele is said to be a Child of Deaf Adult (Coda) and familiar only with signing understood by him and his “deaf mother”.

IEC Deputy CEO Dr Victor Shale said, “The commission ordinarily does not hire interpreters around the country” but uses Saslis volunteered by local organisations in the communities where it holds events.

“At the start of this workshop, participating disability organisations were asked to assist with sign language interpretation. One of the organisations [Liberation of Disabled Peoples Ability (LDPA)] volunteered a member, who, as seen on circulating video, did not meet the interpreter standards. This led to infringement of the rights of the Deaf participants to equal access to the information shared at that event. Our colleagues would not have known in advance that the person was not qualified,” said Shale. 

‘Scapegoat’

LDPA secretary Simphiwe Zuma said, “I find it very interesting that the IEC uses the Liberation of Disabled People’s Ability as a scapegoat for their discrepancies.” 

The LDPA is affiliated to BlindSA. Zuma wrote to the IEC in KZN to account for what transpired.

Shale said, “We are told that the discussions were in isiZulu, and then there was a switch of the language to English. According to the report we received [from the IEC in KZN], this is where it seemed this person was now at sea.”

However, LDPA deputy chairperson Phathisiwe Mkhize said her communication with the IEC about Nxele happened on 10 September, not on the day of the event, as alleged by the IEC.

Mkhize said Nxele was an ordinary member of the community and a Coda, and that he did not work for their organisation.

Text messages seen by Daily Maverick show that, on 10 September at 8.22am, IEC KZN official Anele Radebe sent a WhatsApp message to Mkhize enquiring, “May I kindly ask, do you know sign language or know someone that does.” 

Mkhize said, “I know someone who has basic [sign language], his mother is deaf. He knows how to connect with her.” Mkhize said Nxele’s mother is in a wheelchair.

‘R50 payment’

“He interpreted for the IEC from 10am to noon without anyone helping him. They only gave him R50, and that was not right,” said Mkhize.

Nxele said, “Anele phoned me a week before, requesting that I come and help to sign. She gave me R50 for transport after the event. I have never signed at an event before this [IEC]. I know how to sign the alphabet, but I do not know sign language fully.”

Radebe said, “They [LDPA] recommended him. I am not allowed to comment on the matter. She [Mkhize] told me she uses him for interpreting. I will forward you a voice note in which she told me that.”

Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) spokesperson Ntombentle Huluhulu said the organisation was aware of the incident, but had not yet received a formal complaint.

“However, PanSALB can, on its own accord, investigate any allegations of linguistic human rights violation. We will be reaching out to the IEC,” said Huluhulu.

‘Totally wrong’

PanSALB’s Dr Sally Maepa said, “As PanSALB, we affirm that asking someone to interpret simply because they can sign without establishing their interpreting competence is totally wrong. We take the concerns raised by the deaf community very seriously.”

“Knowing SASL [South African Sign Language], including growing up with deaf parents, does not automatically qualify someone to interpret professionally unless that person went to school and studied SASL interpreting.

“Being a Coda or being recommended by a stakeholder does not replace the need to assess professional interpreting competence and suitability for an important assignment, especially one concerning elections, which will affect someone’s future or the country’s future. So, the IEC must account for how the person was selected and what quality steps were undertaken.”

“They should have been careful, especially because it’s the IEC. Fingerspelling is not speaking a language,” said Maepa.

Maepa said that, if this was how the interpreter was sourced, it represented a serious failure to ensure meaningful access to electoral information.

‘Nothing in video can be understood’

Deaf complainant Sicelo Dlamini, a former commissioner of the CRL Rights Commission, said, “Nothing can be understood in that video because he is not interpreting anything.”

Deaf activist Tumi Motaung said, “What a shocking event. What I saw on that video is embarrassing and mocks our language.”

Motaung said, “There should be a rule making such incidents an offence because, as long as these fake interpreters walk free, the matter will never be resolved.”

DeafSA education director Ingrid Parkin said fingerspelling the alphabet without structure “gives Deaf people zero access”.

“It’s so bad, even worse than the Mandela funeral. He [Nxele] is just fingerspelling randomly. What happened is abhorrent. It denied Deaf citizens their constitutional right to information and to vote,” said Parkin.

Another Sasli, Sandile Mngadi, said, “When I saw the clip, I was like, oh my God, no, not again. He can do fingerspelling, but he is not an interpreter.”

She said Nxele was “a bit better” than Jantjie. “I don’t think he knows the whole alphabet, but he knows most of it. Jantjie did not even know fingerspelling.”

But Kotze had a different view: “You can’t say that he makes any sense. Thamsanqa Jantjie at least said something. Jantjie could move his hands, but this one, no, he is not.”

South African Sign Language Interpreting National Centre owner Thelma Kotze said, “I’m extremely disappointed that, in 2026, we still encounter incidents where individuals who clearly lack the necessary training and competence are appointed to positions where they act as South African Sign Language interpreters, especially for important public events such as this. Did we not learn anything from the Nelson Mandela memorial service?” 

Call for investigation

“The IEC and their procurement processes must be taken to task and investigated. This does not comply with accessibility requirements,” said Kotze.

CRL Rights Commission spokesperson Mpiyakhe Mkholo said the commission was aware of the incident and would investigate the circumstances.

Mkholo said, “The commission expects corrective measures to be urgently implemented to demonstrate respect and the promotion of linguistic dignity for the affected communities.”

National Association of South African Sign Language Interpreters president Nthabiseng Ndhlovu said, “Interpreters’ competence cannot be measured by their willingness to lend a helping hand, but by their demonstrated linguistic proficiency, interpreting skills and ethical accountability.

“Presenting an unqualified individual as an interpreter risks turning a mechanism intended to facilitate access to information into a barrier and contributing to secondary victimisation.”

Shale said the IEC apologised for what had transpired. DM

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IEC

Local Elections 2026

Thabo Nxele

South African Sign Language interpreting

Deaf rights

CRL Rights Commission