Under fire
Between 1985 and 1987, four Makro stores are set on fire by RaRa. This splinter group of the Dutch anti-apartheid movement uses radical means to force companies active in South Africa to withdraw. The police are unable to track down the perpetrators and the insurer is no longer willing to cover Makro stores worldwide. With the government refusing to guarantee security, SHV is forced to take a drastic decision.
Makro in flames
On the night of 17th September 1985, the fire brigade is called out to the Makro Duivendrecht, near Amsterdam. Yet they cannot prevent a fire from burning down the entire building and everything in it. Nobody is harmed but the material losses are huge. It soon becomes clear that the conflagration is no accident, but rather caused by an incendiary bomb.
The attack is claimed by RaRa (Revolutionary Anti-Racist Action), which states the action is aimed at pressuring holding company SHV to pull out of South Africa.
The police are unable to track down the perpetrators and in December 1986 RaRa strikes again. The Makro store in Duiven and the recently rebuilt branch in Duivendrecht are both set on fire. In spite of extra security, a fourth Makro outlet is set alight only a month later – this time in Nuth, bringing the situation to a boiling point.
