From what I hear, African workers have no work ethic, a lot of stuff goes "missing" as well. There's a reason the continent has nearly no manufacturing despite having some of the lowest labor costs...
Beating isn't the right approach necessarily but it's also lacking context. If I catch someone stealing my stuff, I'd probably do the same. You'd just shake their hand I guess.
I wouldn't be there in the first place. How stupid does one have to be to start a business in such a place? Well, Chinese stupid I suppose.