Sakeliga | The Origin Story

Over the last year, we’ve seen an escalation in harmful state action and destructive economic policy.

The South African government is launching waves of attacks on productive businesses at an unprecedented scale. Businesses are facing unprecedented threats, driven by the ruling elite’s ideology, systematic state failure and the results of flawed economic policy spanning more than two decades.

At Sakeliga, our mission is to push back against these threats.

Sakeliga was founded in 2011 when a group of business leaders decided an organisation was needed to resist harmful state action. We could not simply wait for political solutions. Business leaders needed to stand up, protect economic freedom and restore economic order.

The founding of Sakeliga was inspired by the Hanseatic League — the Hansaliga — a trading alliance that created centuries of prosperity across northern Europe. These weren’t politicians or bureaucrats. They were merchants, traders, and entrepreneurs who understood that business communities must take responsibility for the economy and the communities they serve.

Just like the Hansaliga, we are a league. An alliance. A network of businesses standing together against the forces that seek to destroy economic order.

Today, Sakeliga is recognized as a premier litigant against harmful state action and destructive economic policy.

Our litigation serves the public interest and unlocks scalable legal precedents that empower civil society across the nation. We select high-impact cases that prevent severe economic harm or provide significant economic impact.

The organisation also develops Alternative Structures, builds international relationships through our Trade Relations team and has an expanding Business Chamber Network.

Alternative structures are real-world solutions and alternative governance structures that empower civil society to address state failure. This work includes validating models for decentralised energy supply, highway security through private patrols and other infrastructure solutions that protect businesses and the communities that they serve.

Being an independent, non-profit it’s our thousands of mission-aligned, committed funding partners that make our work possible.

The Hanseatic League created lasting prosperity because its members understood that economic order requires constant effort to build, defend and renew. Similarly, our network, our alliance must work together to restore order.

This is our mission.

Our mission is built upon three fundamental principles: trade and property rights, shared infrastructure, and security.

Looking into the next 12 months, the 3rd Wave of BEE represents the most concerning development.

Unlike previous phases where businesses could choose whether to comply with racial restructuring requirements, the 3rd Wave threatens to exclude businesses from economic participation entirely. The state is beginning to mandate specific race-based ownership and employment criteria across thousands of businesses.

This includes the new Employment Equity Amendment Act, forcing specific race-based employment quotas within every business with 50 or more employees.

We’ve seen multiple regulators across various industries attempt to withhold operating licenses on the unlawful grounds of BEE requirements.

The property sector faces pressure from the PPRA. Financial services from the FSTC. Airlines from the ASLC. Telecommunications from ICASA. Medical licensing from SAHPRA.

The Competition Commission repeatedly implements BEE-based requirements in large mergers and acquisitions.

Business chambers and industry associations serve as our scaling mechanism. We encourage these organizations to take greater responsibility for addressing challenges in their respective towns and industries.

At the heart of our approach lies a core principle: Maximum Achievable Non-Compliance.

This means following the best legal recourse to resist harmful policies while doing the minimum required under problematic regulations. We pursue ethical legal recourse to counter what is often unlawful, unjust government action.