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HIV Positive Malawian ‘Hyena’ Man Who Was Paid To Have Sex With Children Arrested On President’s Orders

By Janice Malcolm
Published on: 07:28 PST, Jul 26, 2016

A BBC profile of a Malawian man, who says that as part of the initiation rites of certain villages, he was paid to have sex with children, has led to the man being arrested on orders from the African nation’s president. In the feature last week, the HIV positive sex worker, known as a “hyena,” claimed to have had sex with over 100 adolescent girls.

Eric Aniva is from the southern district of Nsanje, and when BBC’s Ed Butler covered the story about Malawi’s sexual “cleansing practices,” the man revealed that to sleep with these young girls he is often paid a fee somewhere between four and seven dollars by each of their families. The practice, traditional for some of the remote southern regions of the country, states that in order to mark their passage into womanhood once the girls have had their first menstruation, they are made to have sex with a “hyena.”

Aniva revealed in the BBC piece that his HIV-positive status is not something he reveals to the people who hire him, even though the ritual also requires that no condoms be used during the act. Aniva himself has two wives and says that a “hyena” was selected by the community based on his good morals.

According to the BBC, President Peter Mutharika has said that the police will be carrying out an investigation and have already arrested the sex worker to be charged in the cases of defilement that he had seemingly confessed to in the interview. District commissioner Gift Lapozo spoke to the media regarding the “hyena.”

“Aniva was arrested on Monday after he was summoned to my office.”

The practice is not widely known and is performed mainly in southern Malawi, typically lasting for three days. After a girl’s first menstruation, her parents request and pay for men known as “hyenas” to have sex with them. The tradition is believed to train the girls on how to become good wives and also to protect them from any disease or misfortune that could possibly fall on either their families or their village.

In the Malawi culture, the “hyena” is usually a man who has sex with either widows or married women who cannot get pregnant.

In the BBC interview broadcast, Aniva openly admitted that even though he is infected with HIV, he has had sex with at least 100 young girls, all without using protection.

“Some girls are just 12 or 13 years old, but I prefer them older. All these girls find pleasure in having me as their hyena. They actually are proud and tell other people that this man is a real man, he knows how to please a woman.”

According to Daily Nation, the President has also ordered an inquiry into the roles the parents of the girls who had sex with Aniva played. President Mutharika said that in addition to the fact that the girls were so young, Aniva would also be investigated for exposing the girls to possibly contracting HIV and would be charged accordingly. Spokesman Mgeme Kalilani released a statement regarding the intolerance of such harmful cultural practices.

“While we must promote positive cultural values and positive socialisation of our children, the president says harmful cultural and traditional practices cannot be accepted in this country. All people involved in this malpractice should be held accountable for subjecting their children and women to this despicable evil. These horrific practices although done by a few also tarnish the image of the whole nation of Malawi internationally and bring shame to us all.”

It was only last year that Malawi took a step towards what activists hoped would help end early sexual initiation rituals by raising the legal marriage age from 15 to 18.

Eric Aniva had reportedly told the BBC that he planned to stop being a part of the sexual cleansing practices.

[Photo by Eldson Chagara/AP Images]

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