Zimbabwe Sentences 3 to Hang for Bungled Bombing

A High Court judge Friday convicted three Zimbabweans suspected of being spies for South Africa and sentenced them to hang for murder in connection with a bungled car bomb attack against exiled South African guerrillas.

It is believed to be the first time that Zimbabwe, formerly the British colony of Rhodesia, ordered alleged spies for neighboring South Africa to the gallows since becoming an independent nation in 1980.

Judge Wilson Sandura found the three Zimbabweans--two whites and a black--guilty of “intent to kill” in a car bomb blast Jan. 11 outside a home in the southern city of Bulawayo. An unemployed Zambian who had been hired to drive the car died when the bomb exploded prematurely.

The bomb had been intended for exiled members of the African National Congress, the outlawed guerrilla organization that opposes white minority-led rule in South Africa. Three ANC members inside the home were injured, but none was killed.

Sentenced to death Friday were Kevin Woods, 35; Michael Smith, 34, and Phillip Conjwayo, 54. All are former members of the colonial-era Rhodesian security forces and had been targeted in an abortive rescue attempt in July by other alleged South African agents.

In Zimbabwe, the death sentence carries an automatic appeal. In this case, the appeal is not expected to be heard until early next year, when Woods and Smith face another trial on charges of masterminding or aiding bomb attacks on ANC offices and houses in the capital in 1986.

Woods has admitted to interrogators that he was hired as a South African intelligence agent in 1983.