Malawian President Peter Mutharika ordered the arrest
Tuesday of a man paid to have sex with more than 100 adolescent girls as part
of a traditional ritual marking their passage to womanhood.
The order was issued after the man from the southern
district of Nsanje gave a media interview confessing to have slept with the
girls for a fee of between four and seven dollars paid by each of their
families.
“I order police to immediately arrest Mr Eric Aniva,
investigate him and take him to court forthwith
for defilement cases,”
Mutharika said in a statement.
In a BBC interview,
Aniya says it is an age long tradition that marks the progression of
adolescent girls to womanhood. Also, if a woman loses her husband, she is
brought to people like him for cleansing before she can bury him. If women get
an abortion, they are brought to him for cleansing too.
Aniva is called “hyena” by the community and he told BBC’s
Ed Butler that there are about 10 of them in the community. He says that each
community in the Nsanje district has an “hyena”. He says he started the
practice in 1985.
He says that it is a traditional title given to a man hired
by communities to perform the sexual cleansing rituals.
12-13 year old girls are brought to him immediately after
their first menstruation for him to transition them to womanhood.
Mutharika however, said Aniva should “be investigated for
exposing the young girls to contracting HIV and further be charged
accordingly.”
He also ordered an inquiry into the role of parents, saying
“harmful cultural and traditional practices cannot be accepted.”
Malawi, which has one of the highest HIV infections in the
world, criminalises sex with a person under the age of 16.
If found guilty of underage sex, Aniva could be imprisoned
for life.
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