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The sign language interpreter used at Nelson Mandela's football stadium memorial was a fake, it was claimed this morning.

Braam Jordaan, a deaf South African and board member of the World Deaf Federation, said he believes the interpreter was making up signs as he went along.

"The structure of his hand, facial expressions and the body movements did not follow what the speaker was saying", Mr Jordaan said.

Mr Jordaan claimed the man, who signed for a portion of the ceremony including Barack Obama's speech, was simply making up his own signs.

"I was really upset and humiliated", he told the SBS news website, "He made up his own signs.

"What happened at the memorial service is truly disgraceful thing to see - it should not happen at all.

"What happened today will be forever aligned with Nelson Mandela & Deaf Community, thanks to this fake interpreter."

Defenders of the man, whose identity has not yet been disclosed, have claimed that he was signing in South Africa's Zulu language.

But deaf campaigners said sign language is not based on a spoken language and such there can be no such thing as "Zulu" Sign Language

South Africa has just one sign language, which recognises all regional dialects.

A South African government spokesman said they were aware of complaints about the man and are investigating.

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Professor Bencie Woll, director of Deafness Cognition and Language (DCAL) Research Centre based at UCL, said: “There’s no such thing as signing in Zulu. It’s like saying someone is speaking French in English. Sign languages are independent languages with their own grammar and structure. What he was doing looked extremely odd. There has been almost universal agreement among deaf South Africans they did not recognise it.”

South Africa's deaf community has previously raised concerns about the young black male interpreter, who has been used at a number of African National Congress events.

When he appeared on stage next to the speakers yesterday, Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen, the first deaf woman to be elected to the South African Parliament tweeted: "ANC-linked interpreter on the stage with dep president of ANC is signing rubbish. He cannot sign. Please get him off."

South African Sign Language interpreter Francois Deysel said on Twitter that the interpreter was "making a mockery of our profession".

Mr Jordaan says there have been question marks over the same interpreter at previous ANC events.

The World Association of Sign Language Interpreters (WASLI), Sheena Walters, also said the sign language used was not recognisable as any accepted form of international or South African sign language.

“It seems quite obvious that the interpreter isn’t using South African sign language", she told SBS.

“Most sign languages across the world share a similar structure and pattern and this person seems to be making a lot of repetitive signs and isn’t displaying the usual facial expression or structure of sign language that you would normally see.”

Deaf news blog The Limping Chicken said the interpreter signed with a "strange repetitive rhythm to his movements", and "the structure of his hand and body movements didn't seem to change no matter what the speaker was saying".

Update: I AM qualified but had a schizophrenic episode, says translator who signed 'prawn, rocking horse' at Nelson Mandela's memorial