Mugabe vows opposition will never rule Zimbabwe

By Cris Chinaka

HARARE (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe vowed on Saturday that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would never rule Zimbabwe and that he was prepared to fight to keep them from taking power.

"We shall never, never accept anything that smells of ... the MDC. These pathetic puppets taking over this country? Let's see. That is not going to happen," he said in a speech at the funeral of a former army general.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai will face Mugabe in a run-off presidential election on June 27 after winning the first round in March but without the necessary majority. Mugabe's ZANU-PF lost control of parliament in the same round of voting.

Tsvangirai, rights groups and Western powers accuse Mugabe of unleashing a brutal campaign, including using police to harass opponents, to win the run-off.

Tsvangirai and 11 MDC colleagues were held by police for three hours on Saturday after being taken into custody at a roadblock. He has been detained several times this month.

The party's secretary-general, Tendai Biti, arrested on Thursday as he returned to the country, appeared handcuffed before a judge.

At a closed hearing, prosecutors said they planned to charge him with "treason and making malicious statements detrimental to the interests of the state", which could carry a death penalty, Biti's lawyer said.

Despite ZANU-PF's parliamentary losses, the president, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980, has shown little sign of accepting change.