Narratives linking Nigerians to drug, crime origin in South Africa false — Research

The President of the Africa Development Studies Centre (ADSC), Dr Victor Oluwafemi, on Monday debunked narratives linking Nigerians to the origin of drug trafficking and violent crimes in South Africa.

Oluwafemi stated this while giving an update on the research titled: “Crime, Drugs, Apartheid and Historical Memory: Reassessing the Origins of Organised Crime in South Africa.”

According to him, the research carried out by the Centre showed that violent crimes and drug syndicates already existed in South Africa during apartheid rule.

He said the research showed evidence of anti-drug and violent crime legislation long before any noticeable migration of Nigerians to South Africa.

According to him, the roots were deeply historical, structural, political and socio-economic. By 1992, before the official democratic transition of 1994, South Africa already recorded some of the highest violent crime statistics globally, with murder rates estimated at approximately 77 per 100,000 people and armed robbery rates exceeding 375 per 100,000 in documented institutional studies.

Oluwafemi said South Africa had enacted formal anti-drug laws as early as 1922, particularly targeting cannabis, commonly known locally as “dagga.”

He said that 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 crime involving multiple nationalities and syndicates from various regions of the world.

“Historical evidence must prevail over emotional narratives, misinformation, and xenophobic assumptions.

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“Crime and drug trafficking in South Africa did not begin with Nigerians, nor were Nigerians responsible for introducing criminality into the country.

“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 said.

The ADSC president cautioned against the dangers of broad national stereotyping and emotionally driven public discourse, saying that reducing highly complex historical and institutional realities to nationality-based accusations only fuels social division, xenophobia, diplomatic tensions and misinformation across Africa.

He said the real issues remained inequality, governance failures, unemployment, organised criminal evolution, institutional weaknesses and historical injustice.