A research conducted by the Africa Development Studies Center (ADSC) has refuted claims that Nigerians introduced drugs and other crimes into South Africa.
This is contained in the findings of research titled “Crime, Drugs, Apartheid and Historical Memory: Reassessing the Origins of Organized Crime in South Africa”, presented by ADSC Chairman and Founder, Victor Walsh Oluwafemi.
The research presentation unveiled under ADSC's Continental Governance and Security Studies Initiative critically examined widespread claims that Nigerians brought crime and drugs to South Africa and concluded that historical evidence does not support such narratives.
The study presents extensive historical evidence showing that South Africa had established criminal gangs, violent robbery networks, illegal cannabis trade systems and anti-drug laws decades before the end of apartheid and long before significant Nigerian migration to the country.
What should I follow WhatsApp | Linkedin for latest headlines
Oluwafemi said in a statement announcing the results of the research that the findings indicate that South Africa had formally enacted anti-drug laws as early as 1922, specifically targeting cannabis, commonly known locally as “dagga”.
“The historical records reviewed in the ADSC study also show that by the mid-twentieth century, South Africa had already emerged as one of the countries most associated with significant cannabis seizure and underground illicit trade activities.
“The research traces the roots of violent crime in South Africa to colonial and apartheid-era systems, including racial segregation, forced evictions, economic exclusion, migrant labor structures, township underdevelopment, political violence, gang formation, illegal weapons circulation and institutional inequality.
He said, “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 bringing criminality to the country. The roots are deep historical, structural, political and socio-economic.”
The ADSC Chairman said that by 1992, before the official democratic transition of 1994, South Africa had already recorded the highest violent crime figures globally, with documented institutional studies including a murder rate of about 77 per 100,000 people and a rate of armed robbery of more than 375 per 100,000 people.
According to the presentation, South Africa's re-integration into the global economy after apartheid, coupled with the expansion of trade routes, porous borders, rising unemployment, global narcotics demand and weak transitional institutions, contributed to the expansion of transnational organized crime involving multiple nationalities and syndicates from different regions of the world.
ADSC research made clear that although some foreign criminal networks, including some Nigerian syndicates, later became involved in organized criminal activities in post-apartheid South Africa, there is no historical basis for holding Nigerians responsible for the origins of South Africa's criminal ecosystem.
He further warned of the dangers of widespread national stereotyping and emotionally driven public discussion.
“Reducing highly complex historical and institutional realities to nationality-based accusations only serves to fuel social division, xenophobia, diplomatic tensions and misinformation across Africa.
“The real issues are inequality, governance failures, unemployment, organized criminal growth, institutional weaknesses and historical injustice.”
The study also explored the growth of organized gangs in the Western Cape, the criminal economies of townships during apartheid, illegal mining activities, smuggling corridors and the increase in drug trafficking following the international reunification of South Africa in the 1990s.
The research formed part of ADSC's broader continental work on governance, migration studies, institutional resilience, organized crime, public policy, regional stability and security sector reforms across Africa.
Other key findings presented by the ADSC showed that while South Africa had anti-drug laws before the 1930s, cannabis and illicit drug enforcement systems existed long before Nigerian migration to South Africa.