December 12, 2013
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Motshabi Hoaeane.
Making headlines:
 

Former President Nelson Mandela’s body lays in State for the second day.

The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance says Sanral is fabricating e-tag sales figures.

And, Mandela sign language interpreter Thamsanqa Dyantyi says he’s a “sign language champion”.

The body of the late former President Nelson Mandela has left 1 Military Hospital in Thaba Tshwane for the second day to Nelson Mandela Amphitheatre, at the Union Buildings, for members of the public to view.

They will have an opportunity to view the body of the man popularly known as the father of the nation. The Amphitheatre is where the former President was inaugurated as the first democratically elected President in 1994.

His body will lay in state for a third day on Friday before being flown to the Eastern Cape, where it will be buried on Sunday at his ancestral home in Qunu, 700 km south of Johannesburg.

 

The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance  (or Outa) said on Wednesday said the South African National Roads Agency Limited (or Sanral) were fabricating their e-tag sales figures to more than double what they were.

Outa chairperson Wayne Duvenage said based on a statistically sound sample size, Outa's research shows that only 15% of freeway users are tagged and 9% of vehicles counted off the freeway were tagged.

Outa's research showed, of a sample of 2 098 cars that used the freeway, 317 had e-tags, which equalled around 15.1%. Of a sample of 2 236 cars that didn’t use the freeways, 212 had e-tags, equalling around 9.5%.

Duvenage said given that around one-third of cars in Gauteng did not use the freeway, it was expected the non-freeway figure would be lower.
 

A South African sign language interpreter accused of gesticulating gibberish during a memorial for Nelson Mandela defended his "champion" performance on Thursday, but said he may have suffered a schizophrenic episode while on stage.

Millions of TV viewers saw 34-year-old Thamsanqa Dyantyi interpreting on Tuesday at the Mandela memorial attended by leaders from around the world. However, South Africa's leading deaf association on Wednesday denounced him as a fake, saying he was inventing signs.

The interpreter told a Johannesburg newspaper that he started hearing voices in his head and hallucinating, resulting in gestures that made no sense to outraged deaf people around the world.

Dyantyi said he worked for a company called SA Interpreters, which had been hired by the African National Congress for Tuesday's ceremony at Johannesburg's 95 000-seat Soccer City Stadium.

Also making headlines:

The World Health Organizations’ World Malaria Report 2013 reveals that global efforts to curb malaria have saved 3.3-million people since 2000.

Religious leaders seek reconciliation between Muslims and Christians in Central African Republic.
 

That's a roundup of news making headlines today.