A civil engineer by training, Ramokgopa entered formal politics as a ward councillor for the African National Congress (ANC) in Tshwane between 2000 and 2005. After several years running public and private entities, he returned to politics in November 2010 when he was elected Mayor of Tshwane.
By that time he was also the Regional Chairperson of the ANC's branch in Tshwane, a position he held until 2018. In June 2016, Ramokgopa was passed over for reappointment as the ANC's mayoral candidate in the 2016 local government elections, which the ANC ultimately lost; the ANC's selection of Thoko Didiza as its mayoral candidate led to violent protests in which five people were killed. After the election, Ramokgopa declined to serve as an ordinary local councillor and retreated from frontline politics.
Pursuant to the 2019 general election, Ramokgopa served a brief stint in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature and as MEC for Economic Development, Agriculture, and Environment under Premier David Makhura.
He was MEC for only four-and-a-half months, between May and October 2019; he resigned so that a woman could take his position in line with the ANC's internal rules about gender parity in government structures.
Shortly after Ramokgopa resigned from the provincial government, President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed him to head the investment and infrastructure unit in the Presidency. In addition, Ramokgopa was a member of the Provincial Executive Committee of the Gauteng ANC until July 2022, and in December 2022 he was elected to a five-year term on the party's National Executive Committee.
Dash
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