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The “fake” interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service has been committed to a secure psychiatric unit, it was revealed tonight.

Thamsanqa Jantjie shot to fame after being criticised for his controversial hand gestures while just feet away from US President Barack Obama.

He later claimed he had suffered a schizophrenic episode in which he had “seen angels and heard voices”.

Now Jantjie, 34, has been admitted to Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital in South Africa.

His wife Siziwe said: “The past few days have been hard. We have been supportive because he might have had a breakdown.”

Jantjie’s interpreting was widely derided after it was discovered that he had introduced words like “prawns” and “rocking horse” into some of the speeches.

He was supposed to have gone to Sterkfontein on December 10 for a check-up.

However, when he was offered the job to interpret at the memorial service Siziwe called the hospital on his behalf and asked that he be given another date.

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Last week it emerged he has in the past been charged with a string of violent offences.

It raised major security questions over how he was able to get so close to Obama. Jantjie, who claimed he got his qualification from a UK university, was accused of murder, attempted murder and kidnap in 2003.

In 1994 he was charged and acquitted of raping a woman and he was also probed over a £100,000 travel allowance fraud.

The government admitted Jantjie was not a professional interpreter but played down security concerns.

Deputy Disabilities Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu said: “He was procured. He did not just rock up.

"Did a mistake happen? Yes. He became overwhelmed. He did not use the normal signs. We accept that.”

Jantjie was watched by hundreds of millions of people around the world interpreting the speeches of Obama and other world leaders at Mandela’s memorial service.