Facts They Never Told You: ADSC Boss, Oluwafemi Unveils Historical Research on Crime, Drugs, Organised Violence in South Africa

The President and Founder of the Africa Development Studies Centre (ADSC) Sir Victor Walsh Oluwafemi, has released a major historical and policy research presentation examining the origins of organised crime, armed robbery, drug trafficking, and criminal economies in South Africa.

New Research Challenges Longstanding Narratives Linking Nigerians to the Origins of Crime and Drug Trafficking in South Africa were exhaustively explained.

The research presentation, unveiled under ADSC’s continental governance and security studies initiative, critically examines widespread claims that Nigerians introduced crime and drugs into South Africa and concludes that historical evidence does not support such narratives.

Entitled: “Crime, Drugs, Apartheid and Historical Memory: Reassessing the Origins of Organised Crime in South Africa”

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.

According to the research presented by Sir Victor Walsh Oluwafemi, 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.

Presenting the findings, Oluwafemi stated:
“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.”

“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 explores 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 forms 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.

Key Historical Findings Presented by ADSC Include:

• South Africa had anti-drug legislation before 1930.
• Cannabis and illicit drug enforcement systems existed long before Nigerian migration into South Africa.
• Organised gangs and armed robbery networks existed during both colonial and apartheid periods.
• Apartheid-era policies significantly contributed to violent crime and underground criminal economies.
• Crime rates escalated sharply during the late apartheid transition period of the 1980s and early 1990s.
• There is no credible historical evidence that Nigerians introduced drugs or crime into South Africa.
• Post-apartheid organised crime became transnational, involving both local and international actors.
• Xenophobic narratives oversimplify deeply rooted historical and institutional realities.

The full ADSC research publication is expected to be released through the Centre’s official policy and research platforms in the coming weeks.