The Africa Development Studies Centre (ADSC) has faulted narratives linking Nigerians to the origin of drug trafficking and violent crimes in South Africa.

The President of ADSC, Dr Victor Oluwafemi, said research conducted by the centre showed that violent crimes and drug syndicates existed in South Africa during the apartheid era.

He said the study, titled “Crime, Drugs, Apartheid and Historical Memory: Reassessing the Origins of Organised Crime in South Africa,” revealed evidence of anti-drug and anti-violence legislation long before the migration of Nigerians to South Africa.

According to him, the roots of organised crime in South Africa are deeply historical, structural, political and socio-economic.

Oluwafemi said that by 1992, before the country’s democratic transition in 1994, South Africa had already recorded some of the world’s highest violent crime rates.

He said murder rates were estimated at about 77 per 100,000 people, while armed robbery rates exceeded 375 per 100,000, according to documented institutional studies.

He added that South Africa enacted formal anti-drug laws as early as 1922, particularly targeting cannabis, locally known as “dagga”.

According to him, the expansion of organised crime after apartheid was driven by South Africa’s reintegration into the global economy, expanding trade routes, porous borders, rising unemployment and increasing global narcotics demand.

“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.

“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.

Oluwafemi cautioned against broad national stereotyping and emotionally driven public discourse.

He said reducing complex historical and institutional realities to nationality-based accusations only fuels social division, xenophobia, diplomatic tensions and misinformation across Africa.

According to him, the real issues remain inequality, governance failures, unemployment, institutional weaknesses and historical injustice.