The President of the Africa Development Studies Centre (ADSC), Dr Victor Oluwafemi, has dismissed allegations linking Nigerians to the origin of organised crime and drug trafficking in South Africa, stating that historical records show such criminal networks predated Nigerian migration to the country.
Historical Roots in Apartheid Era
Oluwafemi, while presenting findings of a research conducted by the centre, said violent crimes and drug syndicates were already deeply rooted in South Africa during the apartheid era. According to him, the research titled “Crime, Drugs, Apartheid and Historical Memory: Reassessing the Origins of Organised Crime in South Africa,” revealed that South Africa had enacted anti-drug and anti-violent crime laws long before noticeable migration of Nigerians into the country.
Structural and Socio-Economic Factors
He explained that the roots of organised crime in South Africa were “historical, structural, political and socio-economic,” rather than nationality-driven. The researcher noted that by 1992, before South Africa’s democratic transition in 1994, the country already recorded some of the world’s highest violent crime statistics. He said documented institutional studies estimated murder rates at about 77 per 100,000 people, while armed robbery rates exceeded 375 per 100,000 people.
Oluwafemi added that South Africa enacted formal anti-drug legislation as far back as 1922, particularly targeting cannabis, locally known as “dagga.” According to him, South Africa’s reintegration into the global economy after apartheid, alongside expanding trade routes, porous borders, rising unemployment, global narcotics demand and weak transitional institutions, contributed to the growth of organised crime involving several nationalities and international syndicates.
Call for Evidence-Based Discourse
“Historical evidence must prevail over emotional narratives, misinformation and xenophobic assumptions,” he said. “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 maintained.
Oluwafemi warned against broad national stereotyping and emotionally driven narratives, saying they fuel xenophobia, social division and diplomatic tensions across Africa. He maintained that inequality, governance failures, unemployment, institutional weaknesses and historical injustice remained the major drivers of crime in South Africa.
