Robert Mugabe has vowed that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change will “never rule Zimbabwe” in a weekend speech that ­followed a pledge to arm war veterans and send them to fight in the event of an MDC victory.

His most threatening speech yet came at the funeral of an army general just as Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader and his rival in the June 27 run-off, was detained at a roadblock for several hours, and Tendai Biti, the party’s secretary-general, was brought to court to determine whether his arrest last week on treason charges was lawful.