At least 20 people have been arrested in Mzimba for harassing two elderly women by beating and forcing them to burry a dead body on their own at a graveyard in Mandala Zimba Village at Eswazini area.

Police swung into the unprecedented action last night, 18 men and 2 women are the ones that have been arrested so far.

Over the weekend, social media was awash with a video of an elderly woman Christina Mphande being beaten and forced to bury the body on her own.

Mphande was accused of bewitching her daughter-in-law who died in South Africa.

According to Mzimba Police Public Relations Officer Peter Botha, the dead body was repatriated back home on Friday and during the burial ceremony, a group of people pulled the victim and forced her to bury the body alone.

When the victim was forced to start burying the dead, her sister joined her to offer help.

Botha said in the process, some people assaulted the victim to the extent that she lost two of her teeth.

She was also later forced into the grave, where she was to be buried alive until she was rescued by her sister and daughters.

Meanwhile, Group Village Headman Zebedia Ziyiri and village headmen Mandala Zimba and Alufeyo Mbale have been suspended by TA Sibande for failing to protect the two women from the angry mob.