President Cyril Ramaphosa's official X (formerly Twitter) account was embroiled in a significant social media controversy on Friday, September 12, following the inadvertent posting of inappropriate images and videos of women. The incident occurred during his address to the National Executive and the Provincial Executive Council of the North West, causing a stir as the posts, though swiftly deleted, were captured in screenshots that quickly went viral across social media platforms.

South African users expressed shock and concern regarding the security and oversight of the presidential account. For instance, X user @Innocentstake remarked on the potential impact, stating, "World leaders, governments, and major institutions follow that account. It reflects poor oversight and weak security checks at the very highest level of our country’s authority." Other users, like @Lisathe_first, questioned the origin of the content, asking, "What was the video doing in the President’s phone to begin with?" A third user, @uNokwandaLo, referenced a long-standing nickname, commenting, "What do we expect from Cupcake? Nothing surprising there."

Following the deletion of the controversial posts, President Ramaphosa's X account, which boasts over 3 million followers, was temporarily disabled. Upon its restoration, the X account of the Presidency issued a statement attributing the incident to a "technical glitch." The statement clarified, "We are in the process of evaluating the source of the glitch, which appears to be a cross-feed that superimposes images on posts from the handle. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience."

The social media blunder brought renewed attention to President Ramaphosa's nickname, "cupcake." According to reports from IOL, this term of endearment emerged in 2017 during allegations that he was involved with and financially supporting several young women. Leaked emails from that period, when Ramaphosa was campaigning for the presidency, allegedly showed him using the term "cupcake" to describe one of these women. In a subsequent interview with the Sunday Times, Ramaphosa admitted to a past affair with a woman from Limpopo, stating, "I had a relationship with only one person, and it ended. I dealt with it with my wife. We now have a professional relationship."