This archive report was first published on 28 June 2021.
On June 28, 2021, a video of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa asking who had stolen his iPad went viral online. The incident occurred during a tour of the Port of Cape Town, where Ramaphosa was set to deliver a speech.
As he began to speak, Ramaphosa realized his iPad was missing, prompting him to ask the audience if someone had taken it. He complained, 'Somebody decided to dispossess me of my iPad, so I want that. Can I have my iPad, please? So they stole it. I had my iPad. This is the problem of always handing your gadgets out to other people. It is best that I should keep these things with me.'
Despite the president's office later claiming that the iPad was not stolen, but rather that Ramaphosa was waiting for it to be delivered, the incident sparked a wave of humorous reactions online. Some Twitter users joked that Ramaphosa was behaving like a student who hadn't done their assignment for presentation.
