The President and Founder of the Africa Development Studies Centre (ADSC), Sir Victor Walsh Oluwafemi, has unveiled a historical and policy research examining the origins of organised crime, armed robbery and drug trafficking in South Africa.
The research, titled “Crime, Drugs, Apartheid and Historical Memory: Reassessing the Origins of Organised Crime in South Africa,” challenges longstanding narratives linking Nigerians to the origins of crime and drug trafficking in the country.
According to Oluwafemi, the study, conducted under ADSC’s continental governance and security studies initiative, found no historical evidence supporting claims that Nigerians introduced crime or illicit drugs into South Africa.
He said findings from historical records show that South Africa had established criminal gangs, violent robbery networks and illicit cannabis trade systems decades before the end of apartheid and long before significant Nigerian migration into the country.
The ADSC president explained that formal anti-drug legislation was enacted as early as 1922, particularly targeting cannabis, locally known as “dagga”.
He added that archival records reviewed in the study revealed that by the mid-twentieth century, South Africa had already recorded significant cannabis seizures and underground illicit trade activities.
Oluwafemi stated that violent crime in the country could be traced to colonial and apartheid-era systems, including racial segregation, forced removals, economic exclusion, migrant labour structures, township underdevelopment and political violence.
“Historical evidence must prevail over emotional narratives, misinformation and xenophobic assumptions. Crime and drug trafficking in South Africa did not begin with Nigerians,” he said.
The study further noted that by 1992, prior to the country’s democratic transition in 1994, South Africa already recorded some of the highest violent crime statistics globally, with murder rates estimated at about 77 per 100,000 people and armed robbery rates exceeding 375 per 100,000.
According to the presentation, post-apartheid reintegration into the global economy, expansion of trade routes, porous borders, unemployment and weak transitional institutions contributed to the rise of transnational organised crime involving multiple nationalities.
The research clarified that although foreign criminal networks, including some Nigerian syndicates, later became involved in organised criminal activities, there was no historical basis for attributing the origin of South Africa’s criminal ecosystem to Nigerians.
Oluwafemi warned against nationality-based stereotyping, noting that such narratives fuel xenophobia, diplomatic tensions and misinformation across the continent.
He said the real drivers of crime remain inequality, governance failures, unemployment, institutional weaknesses and historical injustice.
The study also examined the evolution of organised gangs in the Western Cape, township criminal economies during apartheid, illicit mining activities, smuggling routes and the expansion of narcotics trafficking following South Africa’s international reintegration in the 1990s.
ADSC said the research forms part of its broader continental work on governance systems, migration, institutional resilience, organised crime and security sector reforms across Africa.
The full research publication is expected to be released on ADSC’s official policy and research platforms in the coming weeks.
