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.

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.

[4] Ramokgopa's formal political career began when he was elected to represent the ANC as a local councillor in Tshwane's ward 51, where he served from 2000 to 2005 while also working as a transport engineer.

[9] In July 2010, sources told the newspaper that, partly because of his support for Mashatile, Ramokgopa was a leading candidate for promotion to a mayoral position, although some regional ANC leaders reportedly argued that he was too young for the job.

[11] He succeeded his aunt, Gwen Ramokgopa, who had left the position to serve as Deputy Minister of Health under President Jacob Zuma.

[22] The regional SACP said that it would boycott the 2014 provincial elective conference and instead organised a march on the Union Buildings, calling for the Tshwane municipality to be put under administration by the national government.

[23][15] In addition, sources told the Mail & Guardian that Ramokgopa had fallen out with Paul Mashatile and other provincial ANC leaders over questions of national leadership succession in the ANC: he had apparently disagreed with their harsh response to a recent Constitutional Court finding that President Jacob Zuma had misconducted himself in respect of the Nkandla scandal, and had urged the provincial leadership publicly to accept Zuma's apology.

[30] At political meetings, however, local ANC members opposed to Didiza reportedly demanded his re-election, chanting "No Sputla, no votes".

[31] A leading local newspaper, the Pretoria News, and the Mail & Guardian both reported that the violence had allegedly been part of a campaign by Ramokgopa's supporters to make Tshwane "ungovernable" after Didiza's nomination.

[32][24] The ANC ultimately lost its majority in Tshwane in the 2016 election, for the first time since the end of apartheid, and Ramokgopa was succeeded as mayor by a Democratic Alliance candidate, Solly Msimanga, rather than by Didiza.

While the votes in the election were still being counted, Ramokgopa said that he would not take up a seat as an ordinary councillor – despite previous announcements to the contrary – but instead would focus on his PhD thesis and his party work.

[37][38] Ramokgopa was, however, elected to a four-year term on the Provincial Executive Committee of the Gauteng ANC and subsequently chaired its subcommittee on economic transformation.

[45] In the weeks after Ramokgopa resigned from the Executive Council, City Press and News24 reported that the ANC was considering Ramokgopa for deployment to a range of public offices, including possibly in Premier Makhura's office, at a state-owned enterprise like Eskom or Trasnet, or as Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy following the death of incumbent Bavelile Hlongwa.