Abstract
This paper argues that the African ethic of ubuntu can be a set-back in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The paper argues that some cultural practices that are blamed for contributing to the high rate of HIV infection in African communities are still used in the present day because they are seen as having elements of ubuntu. Using Metz’s theory of ubuntu, I will show how such practices are deemed as having elements of ubuntu. I have used the controversial story of Eric Aniva, an HIV positive man from Malawi, who shocked the world with his confessions that he slept with more than 100 women and girls in a cultural sexual cleansing ritual called fisi, in order to show how some cultural practices are used in the name ubuntu even though they put lives at risk for contracting HIV/AIDS. As a solution, I argue that the anti-HIV-AIDS organisation ought to develop better approaches to fighting the practices. I argue that these approaches should appreciate the people’s conception of such practices.