A South African Cabinet minister is apologizing for the sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela's memorial who outraged deaf people worldwide by making signs they said amounted to gibberish.

A fake interpreter on stage next to President Obama at the Nelson Mandela memorial service in South Africa
A fake interpreter on stage next to President Obama at the Nelson Mandela memorial service in South Africa (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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In the highest-ranking apology yet from the government, Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile said Friday reforms must be implemented to ensure such an incident won't happen again.

Mashatile is sticking to the government's refusal to say who was responsible for hiring the sign interpreter for Tuesday's memorial.

Interpreter Thamsanqa Jantjie says he has been violent in the past and hallucinated during the memorial service as he was gesturing incoherently just 3 feet away from U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)

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