Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe, who recently moved to expand her Mazowe "empire" by grabbing the iconic State-owned Mazowe Dam, has reportedly "imposed an unofficial curfew in the area".

According to Zimbabwe Independent, police and a hired mob of youth militia loyal to Grace were arresting, detaining and fining people for moving around at night or early in the morning within the dam vicinity.

"The curfew starts late in the night from around 22:00 up until 04:00 in the early hours of the following morning. If one is caught walking around at that time they are either detained or forced to pay a bribe of US$2," Chairperson of Arnold (Manzou) Farm Residents’ Association Innocent Dube was quoted as saying.

Dube also confirmed that villagers were being stopped from fishing from the dam.

'Bitter fights'

Reports indicated last week that Grace's move had heightened her "bitter fights" with the villagers, who "earned a living through fishing and other activities around there".

The First Lady's growing empire already included a huge double-storey mansion, a dairy farm, an orphanage and a school.

Grace was also planning on building a university.

A Zimbabwean court early this year reportedly ruled against the First Lady’s move to seize a farm in the same area.

Reports suggested that Grace had evicted a number of families from their home.

The Mazowe Dam was the country's 16th largest reservoir and had a capacity of 39.35-million cubic metres of water. According to The Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) it was 99.9% full as of June 12.

Meanwhile, reports last year indicated that the Mugabes owned at least fourteen farms that were gained through the country’s chaotic land reform programme introduced in the early 2000s.