Nigerians Didn’t Introduce Drugs, Other Crimes In S/Africa – Centre

A research conducted by the Africa Development Studies Centre (ADSC) has disputed claims that Nigerians introduced drugs and other crimes in South Africa.

This is contained in the findings of a research titled, “Crime, Drugs, Apartheid and Historical Memory: Reassessing the Origins of Organised Crime in South Africa,” presented by the president and founder of ADSC, Victor Walsh Oluwafemi.

The research presentation, unveiled under ADSC’s continental governance and security studies initiative, critically examined widespread claims that Nigerians introduced crime and drugs into 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, illicit cannabis trade systems, and anti-drug legislation decades before the end of apartheid and long before significant Nigerian migration into the country.

Oluwafemi in a statement conveying the research outcome said the findings indicated that South Africa had already enacted formal anti-drug laws as early as 1922, particularly targeting cannabis, commonly known locally as “dagga.”

“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 associated with significant cannabis seizures and underground illicit trade activities.

“The research further traces the roots of violent crime in South Africa to colonial and apartheid-era systems, including racial segregation, forced removals, economic exclusion, migrant labour structures, township underdevelopment, political violence, gang formation, illegal arms circulation, and institutional inequality.

“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,” he stated.

The ADSC president noted that by 1992, before the official democratic transition of 1994, South Africa already recorded some of the highest violent crime statistics globally, including murder rates estimated at approximately 77 per 100,000 people and armed robbery rates exceeding 375 per 100,000 in documented institutional studies.

According to the presentation, the post-apartheid reintegration of South Africa into the global economy, combined with expanding trade routes, porous borders, rising unemployment, global narcotics demand, and weak transitional institutions, contributed to the expansion of transnational organised crime involving multiple nationalities and syndicates from different regions of the world.

The ADSC research clarified that although certain foreign criminal networks, including some Nigerian syndicates, later became involved in organised criminal activities in post-apartheid South Africa, there is no historical basis for attributing the origins of South Africa’s criminal ecosystem to Nigerians.

He further warned against the dangers of broad national stereotyping and emotionally driven public discourse.

“Reducing highly complex historical and institutional realities to nationality-based accusations only fuels social division, xenophobia, diplomatic tensions, and misinformation across Africa.

“The real issues remain inequality, governance failures, unemployment, organised criminal evolution, institutional weaknesses, and historical injustice.”

The study also explored the evolution of organised gangs in the Western Cape, township criminal economies during apartheid, illicit mining activities, smuggling corridors, and the growth of narcotics trafficking following South Africa’s international reintegration in the 1990s.

The research formed part of ADSC’s broader continental work on governance systems, migration studies, institutional resilience, organised crime, public policy, regional stability, and security sector reforms across Africa.

Other key findings presented by ADSC showed that South Africa had anti-drug legislation before 1930, Cannabis and illicit drug enforcement systems existed long before Nigerian migration into South Africa.