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Cape Town - A fake Twitter account for the Deputy President has sparked outrage from the Presidency, but it’s not the first and it certainly won’t be the last. Fin24 checks out the most controversial tweeters.
Following a flutter of tweets from @CyrilRamaphosa, the Presidency stepped in to announce that it wanted to “place it on record that the Deputy President does not have a Twitter or any other Social Media Account”.
@CyrilRamaphosa
The fake Ramaphosa account, which has amassed 675 followers so far, claims to be “the official parody account of Cyril Ramaphosa, Buffalo Owner, Deputy (for now) President of the Republic of South Africa Faux Compte”.
The prankster behind the account has set a money pit as a background photo alongside a profile picture of Ramaphosa spraying champagne.
Tweeting updates on Ramaphosa’s movements, the joker tweeted on Tuesday: “Sri Lanka. Hotter than Mordor. Gone through 6 silk shirts already & it’s only 9am #LastTime”
Among other daily nuggets, the account is keen on retweeting updates from another fake account - that of Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
@NotHlaudi
The fake Ramaphosa has drawn much attention to a spoof account for Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the SABC’s controversial acting chief operations officer.
Currently under investigation for lying to the SABC about his qualifications, Motsoeneng was already under fire for accepting an apparent gift of a wife, a cow and a calf from traditional Venda chiefs.
A recent addition to Twitter with just 17 followers, @NotHlaudi is taking full advantage of recent controversies.
He tweeted this week: “Internal #SABC Polls: 100% think #SABC is "on the right track." 100% approve my handling the parastatal. My Job approval: 100%. #itsallgood”.
Earlier he joked: “Anyone know how to cancel an EBay bid? I made an offer for a Clown outfit & now I’m minutes away from owning Parliament.”
@Coachdivvy
One of the more established parody accounts is that of @Coachdivvy, which has notched up an impressive 38 600 followers. A spoof account of the former South African rugby union coach Peter de Villiers, it claims: “I coach rugby, dreams and moustaches! Parody account”. It cites its location as “in the scrum of life”.
As well as offering running commentary throughout matches, @Coachdivvy tweets out advice such as: “The easiest way to become Springbok captain is to retire. #VictorMatfield”.
Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema
President Jacob Zuma and EFF leader Julius Malema take the crown for the most prolifically parodied politicians. Scores of fake accounts exist for both men - and Zuma himself has an official account with 327 000 followers.
The leader of the fake pack is @Julias_Malema, who has been tweeting since November 2010 and now has 18 500 followers.
While admitting he is “NOT commander in Chief of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and NOT a revolutionary activist for radical change in South Africa”, the fake Malema spends most of his time tweeting out vile jokes and phony contact details for the EFF leader.
The real Julius Malema tweets from @Julius_S_Malema, which was initially also a fake account. While still leader of the ANCYL, the person controlling the satirical account handed over the Twitter handle to Malema.
Meanwhile among the fake Zumas is @PresidentRSA - dangerously close to the official Twitter tag of @PresidentZA.
The fake President most recently tweeted: “Fellow South Africans, I am taking time off to rest & recover at #Nkandla #HomeSweetHome #R250Million”.
@notHelenZille
As Western Cape Premier and leader of the DA, the real Helen Zille was one of the first prominent politicians to join Twitter in February 2009.
The real Zille now has 442 000 followers, but she hasn’t managed to escape a mock-up. The profile of her fake account @notHelenZille, which has more than 2 000 followers, reads: “I love wearing red dresses. My name means complaining in Latin. When in doubt blame the ANC - you know I do.”
The account, which mainly spawns comments about racism and botox, recently tweeted: “If you want Cape Town to be it's own Country, SMS "Cape Town" to 31434 (cost is R4500 per SMS).”
@BarryRouxLaw
Finally, rarely is there a big news story that doesn’t prompt a slew of fake tweeters. The infamous sign language furore at Nelson Mandela’s memorial saw the birth of @MemorialSigner which pinged out random words such as “biltong” among its updates.
Meanwhile, one of the most popular among today’s hot topics is the fake account of Oscar Pistorius's lawyer Barry Roux.
The account, which defines itself as a “parody of a lawyer”, has an impressive 24 500 followers.
Just before the defence closed its case for Pistorius on Tuesday, @BarryRouxLaw tweeted: “Defense done. I am a god. You will see my client walk #OscarTrial”
What does @Twitter have to say about it?
The Presidency has issued a statement claiming that it is in the process of “requesting Twitter to shut down the fake accounts” of Ramaphosa.
However, the social network's rules state that fake accounts can be created provided that users follow certain requirements. Read the full policy here.
There are three requirements: that a fake account must admit to being a parody account, it must not use any official logos or trademarks, and it must not use the exact name of the real person.
Will Twitter shut down the fake Ramaphosa account? The account clearly states that it is a “parody account”, adding that it belongs to the “Deputy (for now) President of the Republic of South Africa Faux Compte”.
Faux Compte is French for false account, and certainly there are no ANC logos or official photos used.
However, it falls short on Twitter’s third rule by using Ramaphosa’s real name.
#EpicFail? Let’s see what Twitter decides.
*An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Julius Malema was not on the Twitter network.
Following a flutter of tweets from @CyrilRamaphosa, the Presidency stepped in to announce that it wanted to “place it on record that the Deputy President does not have a Twitter or any other Social Media Account”.
@CyrilRamaphosa
The fake Ramaphosa account, which has amassed 675 followers so far, claims to be “the official parody account of Cyril Ramaphosa, Buffalo Owner, Deputy (for now) President of the Republic of South Africa Faux Compte”.
The prankster behind the account has set a money pit as a background photo alongside a profile picture of Ramaphosa spraying champagne.
Tweeting updates on Ramaphosa’s movements, the joker tweeted on Tuesday: “Sri Lanka. Hotter than Mordor. Gone through 6 silk shirts already & it’s only 9am #LastTime”
Among other daily nuggets, the account is keen on retweeting updates from another fake account - that of Hlaudi Motsoeneng.
@NotHlaudi
The fake Ramaphosa has drawn much attention to a spoof account for Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the SABC’s controversial acting chief operations officer.
Currently under investigation for lying to the SABC about his qualifications, Motsoeneng was already under fire for accepting an apparent gift of a wife, a cow and a calf from traditional Venda chiefs.
A recent addition to Twitter with just 17 followers, @NotHlaudi is taking full advantage of recent controversies.
He tweeted this week: “Internal #SABC Polls: 100% think #SABC is "on the right track." 100% approve my handling the parastatal. My Job approval: 100%. #itsallgood”.
Earlier he joked: “Anyone know how to cancel an EBay bid? I made an offer for a Clown outfit & now I’m minutes away from owning Parliament.”
@Coachdivvy
One of the more established parody accounts is that of @Coachdivvy, which has notched up an impressive 38 600 followers. A spoof account of the former South African rugby union coach Peter de Villiers, it claims: “I coach rugby, dreams and moustaches! Parody account”. It cites its location as “in the scrum of life”.
As well as offering running commentary throughout matches, @Coachdivvy tweets out advice such as: “The easiest way to become Springbok captain is to retire. #VictorMatfield”.
Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema
President Jacob Zuma and EFF leader Julius Malema take the crown for the most prolifically parodied politicians. Scores of fake accounts exist for both men - and Zuma himself has an official account with 327 000 followers.
The leader of the fake pack is @Julias_Malema, who has been tweeting since November 2010 and now has 18 500 followers.
While admitting he is “NOT commander in Chief of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and NOT a revolutionary activist for radical change in South Africa”, the fake Malema spends most of his time tweeting out vile jokes and phony contact details for the EFF leader.
The real Julius Malema tweets from @Julius_S_Malema, which was initially also a fake account. While still leader of the ANCYL, the person controlling the satirical account handed over the Twitter handle to Malema.
Meanwhile among the fake Zumas is @PresidentRSA - dangerously close to the official Twitter tag of @PresidentZA.
The fake President most recently tweeted: “Fellow South Africans, I am taking time off to rest & recover at #Nkandla #HomeSweetHome #R250Million”.
@notHelenZille
As Western Cape Premier and leader of the DA, the real Helen Zille was one of the first prominent politicians to join Twitter in February 2009.
The real Zille now has 442 000 followers, but she hasn’t managed to escape a mock-up. The profile of her fake account @notHelenZille, which has more than 2 000 followers, reads: “I love wearing red dresses. My name means complaining in Latin. When in doubt blame the ANC - you know I do.”
The account, which mainly spawns comments about racism and botox, recently tweeted: “If you want Cape Town to be it's own Country, SMS "Cape Town" to 31434 (cost is R4500 per SMS).”
@BarryRouxLaw
Finally, rarely is there a big news story that doesn’t prompt a slew of fake tweeters. The infamous sign language furore at Nelson Mandela’s memorial saw the birth of @MemorialSigner which pinged out random words such as “biltong” among its updates.
Meanwhile, one of the most popular among today’s hot topics is the fake account of Oscar Pistorius's lawyer Barry Roux.
The account, which defines itself as a “parody of a lawyer”, has an impressive 24 500 followers.
Just before the defence closed its case for Pistorius on Tuesday, @BarryRouxLaw tweeted: “Defense done. I am a god. You will see my client walk #OscarTrial”
What does @Twitter have to say about it?
The Presidency has issued a statement claiming that it is in the process of “requesting Twitter to shut down the fake accounts” of Ramaphosa.
However, the social network's rules state that fake accounts can be created provided that users follow certain requirements. Read the full policy here.
There are three requirements: that a fake account must admit to being a parody account, it must not use any official logos or trademarks, and it must not use the exact name of the real person.
Will Twitter shut down the fake Ramaphosa account? The account clearly states that it is a “parody account”, adding that it belongs to the “Deputy (for now) President of the Republic of South Africa Faux Compte”.
Faux Compte is French for false account, and certainly there are no ANC logos or official photos used.
However, it falls short on Twitter’s third rule by using Ramaphosa’s real name.
#EpicFail? Let’s see what Twitter decides.
*An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Julius Malema was not on the Twitter network.
