The President and Founder of the Africa Development Studies Centre (ADSC), Sir Victor Walsh Oluwafemi, has unveiled a major historical and policy research presentation challenging long-held claims that Nigerians introduced crime and drug trafficking into South Africa.
The study, titled “Crime, Drugs, Apartheid and Historical Memory: Reassessing the Origins of Organised Crime in South Africa,” was presented under ADSC’s continental governance and security studies initiative and examines the historical roots of organised crime, armed robbery, drug trafficking and violent criminal economies in South Africa.
According to the research findings, historical evidence shows that South Africa had established criminal gangs, underground drug trade systems and violent robbery networks decades before the end of apartheid and prior to significant Nigerian migration into the country.
The study revealed that South Africa enacted anti-drug legislation as early as 1922, particularly targeting cannabis, locally known as “dagga,” while records also indicated that the country had become associated with significant cannabis seizures and illicit drug trade activities by the mid-20th century.
Presenting the findings, Oluwafemi said historical realities must take precedence over what he described as misinformation and xenophobic narratives.
He stated: “Historical evidence must prevail over emotional narratives, misinformation, and xenophobic assumptions. Crime and drug trafficking in South Africa did not begin with Nigerians, nor were Nigerians responsible for introducing criminality into the country. The roots are deeply historical, structural, political, and socio-economic.”
The ADSC research traced the roots of violent crime in South Africa to colonial and apartheid-era systems, including racial segregation, forced removals, migrant labour structures, economic exclusion, political violence, gang formation and illegal arms circulation.
According to the presentation, South Africa already recorded some of the world’s highest violent crime rates before the country’s democratic transition in 1994, with murder rates estimated at about 77 per 100,000 people by 1992, alongside rising armed robbery cases.
The study further argued that post-apartheid reintegration into the global economy, porous borders, rising unemployment, expanding trade routes and weak transitional institutions contributed to the growth of transnational organised crime involving both local and foreign syndicates.
While acknowledging that some foreign criminal groups, including certain Nigerian syndicates, later became involved in organised criminal activities in post-apartheid South Africa, the research maintained that there is no historical basis for blaming Nigerians for the origins of the country’s criminal ecosystem.
Oluwafemi warned against nationality-based stereotypes, saying such narratives fuel xenophobia, diplomatic tensions and social division across Africa.
“The real issues remain inequality, governance failures, unemployment, organised criminal evolution, institutional weaknesses, and historical injustice,” he added.
The research also examined the evolution of gangs in the Western Cape, township criminal economies during apartheid, illicit mining operations, smuggling routes and the expansion of narcotics trafficking after South Africa’s reintegration into the international community in the 1990s.
ADSC said the study forms part of its broader work on governance systems, migration, organised crime, institutional resilience, regional stability and security sector reforms across Africa.
The Centre added that the full research publication would be released on its official policy and research platforms in the coming weeks.