we also have video of this same interpreter next to president jacob can be zum mallast year. this isn't a man who appeared once. it's someone close to the government for some time. we should also mention that president. zuma is facing corruption charges in other areas. that's a massive complaint people have in this country about the government. unfortunately, it may be showing that south africa today is a far cry of that of nelson mandela years ago. >> errol, it it is puzzling and troubling. they've got a lot of questions to be answered. it doesn't make any sense what happened there. erroll, thank you very much. we appreciate it. as he mentioned, nelson mandela now in his final resting place. his funeral was held over the weekend in a village where he grew up. about 4500 people pack aid huge at the present time for the ceremony mandela was buried near the graves of three of his children. >> a 30-foot bronze statue of mandela was unveiled in pretoria as part of today's national day of reb conciliation. he was sworn in as president in the city nearly 20 years ago. it's beautifu

. >> reporter: jacob is home. >> he arrived in the united states monday morning. >> reporter: but how the american businessman returned to the u.s. is a mystery. arrested in 2011 in bolivia, managing a rice business and accused of laundering drug money. in may 2012, he his wife said the family was puzzled and dismayed by accusations. >> the worst part is that he's an innocent man. he didn't do anything wrong. and he proved that innocence in the court of law. >> reporter: last december after spending 18 months in prison without being charged and his health failing he was put under house arrest. an interview with cnn and espagnole, he strongly denied the charges. >> the reason this putting in jail because my associate in switzerland is want ford narco trafficking and without the judge seeing evidence. >> reporter: actor sean penn, who took up the cause of his freedom, traveled to bolivia a year ago and met with president morales. >> we're honored and grateful. president morales received juice penn told the associated press he was extracted from the south american country in a humanitari

associated press the fake interpreting k34i9ed something similar last year at an esanta attended by jacob zuma. i'll be back in two hours. i turns over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." \s. >>> right now why it mike make america's enemies nerve out. >>> behind the scenes on air force one, candid images of the remarkable flight carries president obama, president bush, and hillary clinton to south africa. what went on? >>> i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we begin with chilling new video and details of the final seconds of asiana flight 214. federal investigators have released this previously unseen surveillance recording, showing the plane's tail hitting a sea wall. three people were killed in the july accident. hundreds were injured. now we're learning there were repeated warnings in the cockpit of looming disaster, but why didn't those warnings prevent the crash? cnn's rene marsh has details. >> the details make you shake your head and ask, how could this happen? the pilots got the warning. they were aware they were going down too fast, but the problem wasn't corr

the south africa of today, there are issues here when president jacob zuma was here. he is in power, of course. that's always going to make you a little bit sideways with the people you govern, no matter what country you're in. where is south africa today in terms of realizing the dream of nelson mandela, robyn? >> you have to talk to various different south africans. i think this is a country that is very focused on itself at the moment and that very question. jake on zuma is a very different leader to nelson mandela. and many people are concerned that he doesn't embody the visi visionry, the reconciliation that we saw from nelson mandela. was he just an aberration? is south africa no longer exceptional, just another, ordinary midlevel country? >> i think most people would say no. >> i think no. i'm asking that as a question. this happened, corruption, poverty happens everywhere in the world. why are we more critical here of it now 20 years after mandela? >> i think in short, the achievements are lasting and incredible. >> yes. >> democracy, that has been established

he's been used in at least one other major public event here with jacob zuma. >> i stephen colbert. >> reporter: the controversy fodder for light-night comedians. >> is a scam artist or very, very bad at his job? >> reporter: he says he's employed by south africa's translators, a company in south africa. we're still trying to get to the bottom of how he ended up at the memorial. the anc is saying they didn't hire to be at the event. >> it's confounding this happened. >> right. >> i think the sad reality is there are a lot of people who are watching this event that missed out on hearing the speeches and experiencing the memorial because he wasn't signing what was happening. >> right. >> i think that's why there's been so much outrage about this. interesting to note, there have been complaints about him in the past. >> when he was in front of the president jacob zuma was he interpreting the right way? >> it's believed he wasn't. there had been complaints in the past. it's mind boggling he could be there at this point standing feet away from heads of state, including president obama. >>

jacob ostreicher is back in america. he's been in a bolivian prison. apparently actor sean penn is involved here. what is this about. >> little is known. that's an understatement. we really have no idea how this guy got from a bolivian prison to here and we have very little sense of how big of a role the actor, sean penn, the actor sean penn, how big of a role he may have played in this whole escapa escapade. here's what we do know. jacob ostreicher after two years in a bolivian prison is back on u.s. soil. >> he arrived in the united states monday morning. >> reporter: and he's hanging out with sean penn. but what we don't know, how he got out. the bolivians didn't let him go. the u.s. government says they didn't help him escape. the only person talking, mr. sean penn. who told the associated press that ostreicher had been secretly extracted in a humanitarian operation to free him from the corrupt prosecution and imprisonment he was suffering in bolivia. was this some kind of intercontinental jail break? penn would only confirm to the ap that he is wi

his mom and grandfather were in on it but his dad and brothers, jacob and jona and josh were truly overcome with emotion when he walked out. taylor has been serving in afghanistan and hasn't been home in a year. >> wow. >> so sweet. >> you can see that. >> they're upping the game on these surprises for families. >> you can see their emotions. >> people getting deployed two, three, four -- i don't have to tell you. >> over a decade of this. it's rough. >> keep going. there's so much strain on the families. there's not a lot of attention about it on the news. the more attention they can get, the better. >> let's continue the joy of that beautiful moment with a check of the weather. the beautiful christmas weather, indra, please. >> look at that spirit. i give her one little gift and she's like, yeah. let's talk about this system making its way offshore. this was the troublemaker, the one we all dealt with over the weekend. this guy is making its way offshore and should not be a problem anymore. where are we going to see snow? tiny little wave. a bigger system, the clipper that's expected to m

. >>> new york businessman jacob austriker is reportedly back in the u.s. that's what an unidentified state department official tells the associated press. family members in the u.s. apparently have not seen or heard from him since his return. he was detained more than two years ago without charge in a bolivian money laundering investigation. >>> an olympic size wardrobe malfunction or fail. turns out the red, white and blue mittens the u.s. olympic committee is selling at the sochi winter games were made in china. says so right on the tag. yes. the usoc says the official mittens that the american athletes will wear during the opening ceremonies will indeed and are definitely made in the good old usa. >> every time i feel like we've got the same thing. >> it's amazing how much the wardrobe -- >> it's that hard to have things not made in china. that's what it tells us. >> yes. >>> let's move to our political gut check of the morning. the senate looking to clear the bipartisan budget compromise by a crucial test vote after several conservative republicans ple

i think it's a challenge for the anc there, a challenge for jacob zuma to learn the lessons and move on. >> we've been hearing a lot of wonderful personal stories. we talk about the global impact, the personal stories the people have with the man, the figure, the father. what was your first impression of him when you started your journey with him. >> i had a funny first meeting with him. i was walking with him on "long walk to freedom." he came out of prison, he was unsophisticated about things. he told me about when they first held sound mikes over him, he held his head back like this. he thought it was a weapon. he didn't know what it was. after our first meeting, i said we'll have to have many, many meetings like this. he said, i don't have time for that. i stormed out. i thought, my god, the whole project was over with. when i apologized to him, i said, i have been he was in prison for 27 years, a lovely person to be around, he was sunny and he was a happy warrior and it's very hard to be out of his presence once you've been with him for a long time. >> i want to talk about the n