Mark Twain said it best when he wrote: "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated".
It's a quote that Gavin Watson, founder of Autopost Media and broadcast engineer, can relate to more than most.
The British man has been inundated with questions and comments on Twitter after it was reported that his South African namesake had perished in a car accident on Monday morning.
News24 previously reported that Bosasa boss Gavin Watson was killed in a car accident in the early hours of Monday morning close to OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.
As news reports emerged about his death, Gavin Watson, Bosasa and even Toyota Corolla (the car involved in the accident) started to top the list of trending topics on Twitter on Monday.
According to GoodThingsGuy: "UK Watson's account has trended many times over the past few years when reports on SA Watson surface, with social media users mistakingly (and hilariously) interacting with the wrong Watson. (sic)"
Watson, anticipating the oncoming Twitter deluge after news of his namesake's death hit the social media platform and tweeted "here we go again… Time for my Twitter feed to light up!" And light up it sure did.
The notoriously ungovernable South African Twitter crowd didn't waste a second.
Watson, however, thought it best not to get involved given that someone had died, a family was in mourning, and the serious nature of the allegations levelled against his now-deceased namesake.
To clarify, he confirmed that he was still alive.
DA MP Phumzile Van Damme seemed confused.
Others rebuked this supposedly ghostly social media apparition, tweeting from the grave.
Another Twitter user suggested he co-opt Mark Twain's famous quotation - which he duly did.
@Cecilia_Mthwane saw Watson's tweet and denial that he owned a Toyota as "proof" of a conspiracy.
Overall, Watson took it all in his stride.
He also gave some free advice to South Africans on Twitter.
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