dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1568410/Oprah-Winfreys-school-in-child-abuse-scandal.html

Interesting how Oprah tries to minimize the damage and severity at the end of the article.

By Sebastien Berger in Johannesburg4:33PM GMT 05 Nov 2007

Oprah Winfrey, the talk show host and billionaire, said that a child abuse scandal at the girls’ school she founded in South Africa was the worst experience of her life.

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, opened earlier this year, was supposed to be the fulfilment of a dream, a school where the brightest, poorest girls of the 'rainbow nation’ would receive the best education money could buy.

The facilities at the 28-building, high-security campus in Henley-on-Klip, south of Johannesburg, including computer and science laboratories, a library and a theatre, are second to none, and the teaching was meant to prepare the girls, who will eventually number 450, to become leaders of their society.

But instead reports of harsh discipline soon emerged, and today a dormitory matron at the facility, Tiny Makopo, appeared in court facing 13 charges including indecent assault and inducing underage girls to perform indecent acts. She was given bail of £230 pending further investigations.

Afterwards Winfrey — a victim of child abuse herself — spoke publicly for the first time about the scandal.

"When I first heard about it I spent about half an hour crying, moving from room to room in my house," she said, wearing a red blouse and looking tired.

"I took it very personally. Those girls are like my children. That’s not rhetoric to me, I take their futures very seriously."

Oprah's baffling claim of Zulu blood 14 Jun 2005

Sighing deeply, she said: "This has been one of the most devastating experiences, if not the most devastating experience, of my life. But like all such experiences there is much to be learned.

"It has shaken me to my core but at the core of me is a spiritual foundation and a belief all things happen for a reason, and no matter the devastation this too shall pass."

At times adopting the confessional style that has made her programme one of the most successful in America and seen her rated as the most influential woman in the world, she admitted that the screening of staff had been 'inadequate’.

"I have done nothing wrong, I was not directly responsible or in charge, although the buck always stops with me."

The headmistress, Nomvuyo Mzamane, has been told her contract will not be renewed when it expires next month and Winfrey said she was "cleaning house from top to bottom". All the dormitory matrons have been removed.

The allegations first emerged when a delegation of 15 girls went to John Samuel, CEO of the school, with a list of grievances, including implications of sexual abuse of one classmate.

"Those 15 girls bonded together and acted because they felt their voices had not been heard by adults," said Winfrey, addressing a press conference by satellite from Chicago.

"A horrible situation has been uncovered and rooted out.

"They represent a new generation of youth in South Africa. This is what leadership is all about."

Having informed police, the school mounted a private investigation and Winfrey went to South Africa to tell the girls: "This was a chance for them to break the silence and take their voices back.

"There are systems within the school that failed the girls, the girls were in an atmosphere where they were taught to be fearful and taught to be silenced," she said, adding that the pupils had been told to "put on happy faces and never complain".

"Five other brave girls had come forward by the next day," she said.

In all, seven alleged victims of Makopo, 27, have been identified.

It is a far cry from the optimism at the school’s opening ceremony in January, when guests included Nelson Mandela, the film director Spike Lee, the actor Sidney Poitier and singers Mariah Carey and Tina Turner.

But Winfrey, 53, who has personally apologised to parents in a meeting at the academy, insisted: "No-one, and not the accused, can destroy the dream I have held, and each girl continues to hold, for herself at this school. It will become a model for the world.

"We will show the resilience of the human spirit is stronger than poverty, violence, trauma and loss, and stronger than any abuse."

Sexual assaults are rife in South Africa, with more than 55,000 rapes reported last year and more than 40 per cent of the victims underage.

Comparatively speaking the incident is minor, and is only being focused on because of Winfrey’s involvement, but she said: "I’m happy for it to get the attention because it’s one of my goals in life to put child abusers where they belong, and that is behind bars."