A 24-year-old woman was arrested in Kagiso on Thursday for abandoning her new born baby girl, Gauteng police said.

"The baby was abandoned on Sunday in Hillsview, Kagiso," said Inspector Solomon Sibiya.

He said the baby was already three days old when passers by spotted her wrapped in a blanket and crying on the side of a road.

"Police were called and then took the baby who was unharmed, to a place of safety. The mother then came into the police station today; to ask for her baby back... she was distraught and could not give us an explanation... we had no choice but to arrest her."

He said abandoning babies had become a "norm" in the Kagiso area.

Some women abandon their babies and then come back for them, realising that they can obtain social grant money.

"Why should we give this mother back her baby? This child survived for three days without any care from her, why would she care for her baby now?" Sibiya said.

The woman would appear in the Kagiso Magistrate's Court soon, he said.

Sapa