Government spin-doctor Jimmy Manyi today came out guns blazing criticising “someone” on Twitter who has been cashing in on his name. It is not quite clear which Twitter account Manyi was referring to since there are two accounts belonging to a certain “Jimmy Manyi”.  But one thing for sure is that one of these accounts does not belong to him.

One of the accounts (@ JimmyManyifique) has rather naughty tweets. One of the tweets reads, “Just got off the phone with Shabir, top man, he answers the phone with, don’t touch me on my golf course!” My guess is that this could be the fake account Manyi is referring to. The question though that has been on my mind amid this issue is whether or not fake Twitter accounts should be left untouched by the powers that be? I mean can’t Twitter do something about it?

Earlier this year the African National Congress Youth League threatened to take action against Twitter for allowing fake Julius Malema accounts to flourish unchecked on the social networking platform. Manyi however is not saying whether or not he will take any action but one thing for certain is that he is not happy about it.

Social Media marketing expert Francis Unson says fake accounts have long been a problem even before Twitter existed. He says some people create fake accounts out of spite or admiration, while others create fake accounts because they like the attention they wish they were given if they were the person they impersonated.

“Whatever the reasons, Twitter created the “Verified Account” feature to help who face impersonation problems.  They did not, however, create it to separate the popular from the not-so-popular, or the famous from the not-so-famous,” Unson says.

Some celebrities, musicians, and athletes have verified their accounts with Twitter, but Twitter has also rejected the applications of many other high-profile users, as well. So my advice to Malema and Manyi is to get on Twitter and create a verified account in the meanwhile. This might help “preserve” their names.