Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe has taken to Twitter to warn about a social media account impersonating him and offering people a business opportunity.

Mantashe shared a screenshot of the account on Tuesday, calling it a scam.

Mantashe's spokesperson Nathi Shabangu told News24 that, while the minister did have a personal Facebook account, this latest account did not belong to him, and that they had reported it to Facebook to have it removed.

"There is no way the minister will go around on Facebook or Twitter about a business idea or any way of getting fund from people [sic]," Shabangu told News24.

Shabangu said that, if the account continued operating, they would look into taking legal action.

A quick Facebook search revealed a number of accounts with the name of Gwede Mantashe, including the account that the minister alluded to on Twitter.

The account marked as a fake account by Mantashe appears to have been opened in November last year.

There had been no public activity on the account, apart from profile picture changes.

In September last year, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Zweli Mkhize also condemned the "fraudulent" and "mischievous" use of his Facebook profile.

Cogta spokesperson Legadima Leso said at the time that that account was advertising fake job postings.

"There wasn't too much negativity, but obviously when one talks about hirings and job positions... soon people would start calling for people to apply and we wanted the public to know that this was not the minister's account," Leso told News24.

Cogta too warned the public to only trust official accounts, such as its Twitter accounts, @DrZweliMkhize and @NationalCoGTA, and the national Cogta Facebook account.