A woman was arrested on Tuesday in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg for allegedly abusing her eight-year-old son.

The suspect apparently burnt her son's buttocks on a two-plate stove on Monday after a fight with her husband.

The child is being treated in a nearby hospital.

The police's Johannes Motsiri said the boy's father, who does not live with the family, alerted officers.

"He was told by another son that the mother had just pushed another boy onto the stove and he acted immediately by phoning the police," he said.