Fighting the unabating rise of fraud and corruption across Africa is going to be a “long, hard and tough” battle that will likely worsen before things improve.

This was the message emerging from a panel discussion on Thursday over neutralising the threat of fraud and corruption on the continent, where an increasing number of multinational companies were establishing a presence.

Speaking at the fourth annual Africa Risk and Investment Forum, hosted by Frontier Advisory Deloitte, in Woodmead, Johannesburg, Deloitte risk advisory Southern Africa director Clayton Thomopoulos painted a bleak picture of the challenge that remained “largely uncounted, unreported and undetected”.

“Industry-related figures are quantified, but we do not have a proper and realistic grip on the scale of corruption and its impact,” he said, adding that the biggest risk presented in fighting the battle was that of individuals and businesses becoming immune to the trend amid historical and cultural legacy factors.

“We have to try every conceivable angle to defeat this,” he said of the systemic issues that had indirectly led to the social and economic challenges being faced.

A sustained approach in tackling corruption was needed urgently to reverse the current downward trend.

Stellenbosch University Business School Centre for Corporate Governance in Africa director Daniel Malan agreed, noting that corruption in Africa, which spanned many levels both within government and in private sector procurement structures, included money laundering and the establishment of shell companies, and could not be fixed through a one-size-fits-all solution.

“We need to get away from the idea that the endemic corruption is generic,” he said, noting the need to “root down and customise” solutions suitable for each situation, company and country.

“Fraud and corruption is a symptomatic result of much bigger problems,” he said, pointing out that, without programmes mitigating rising inequality, jobless growth and a lack of leadership, which had collectively created the conditions for fraud and corruption, there would be no progress.

A lack of access to accurate and credible information had also slowed the battle against fraud and corruption, with many companies not able to accurately vet potential local partners.

Further, many companies expanding into the continent did not have a proactive stance on corruption, preferring to remain reactive as it was difficult to measure the return on investment of fraud and corruption prevention programmes.

However, there was a role for industry initiatives, enabling companies to anticipate the challenge, set in place risk measures, establish ethics structures and strategies and enact plans to mitigate potential corrupt activities.

A fundamental government-level commitment to good sound corporate governance, fairness and transparency was required, but industry and companies should not “sit back and wait” for political leadership to take a stand.

“There is never going to be a magic solution,” he concluded.