Valued Sakeliga Member,
I have compiled a short video message for you about our position on mandatory vaccinations. In it, I advise that we guard our independence, act with moderation, and tolerate differences among businesses. Please watch it at the link below, share and discuss it, and – as before – send me your feedback.
Are we agents of the state or are we an independent business community?
This is the question business owners must ask as states and state-aligned business groups the world over seek to have private businesses police the public with a vaccine pass system and enable the establishment of a monitored society.
What is the monitored society? It is a system of constant surveillance, with penalties and exclusions and tiered access to normal public life based on the discretionary and ever-changing determinations of politicians about your health status. And that is just where it starts.
Sakeliga cannot and will not accept businesses being turned into verification and monitoring instruments of the state for vaccinations or any other measures. We stand for a healthy separation between business and state.
At Sakeliga, we are building an independent and state-proof business community. Such a community should neither be arming the state with its technology, its systems, and its human resources, nor showing the door to loyal employees and customers because they do not meet ever intensifying and erratic health or other scoring requirements. Businesses should not drive deep wedges in society.
I offer the recommendation to business owners that introducing vaccination requirements for staff, customers or suppliers is generally a disproportionate step and comes with considerably more risks to an organisation than meets the eye. We have not and will not be implementing a mandatory vaccine policy for staff at Sakeliga and will continue to respect the privacy of our staff’s personal health decisions.
My recommendation notwithstanding, Sakeliga does not prescribe to you what to do. We believe that safeguarding business-people’s independence means allowing for different approaches to complex problems. Independent businesses must be afforded the opportunity to act based on their particular circumstances and maintain the ability to correct or alter course when circumstances and insights change.
The approach of the state is to centralise decisions and instrumentalise businesses. Sakeliga’s approach is very different. We aim to protect and strengthen the independence of our members and the broader business community to help build a flourishing society. We tolerate differences among businesses, and we oppose the intolerance of those states and state-aligned business organisations that seek to force all businesses to copy their preferred policies.
Piet le Roux
CEO, Sakeliga