Assault scandal surrounds Oprah school

A FORMER dormitory matron at an elite South African girls’ school funded by US talkshow queen Oprah Winfrey has been arrested on charges of indecent assault, police said yesterday.

“We arrested a 27-year-old woman, a former employee of the academy, on the charge of indecent assault and criminal injury,” said police spokesman Superintendent Lengelo Dlamini.

The woman is currently in custody and at least seven victims have submitted statements, he added.

The multi-million-dollar Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, on the southern outskirts ofJohannesburg, was opened earlier this year at a ceremony presided over by the talkshow host and attended by celebrities Mariah Carey and comedian Chris Rock.

Oprah is reported to have flown to South Africa last month after allegations of abuse first surfaced and attended an emergency meeting with parents.

Local media reported that she made a tearful apology to parents and pupils at a meeting at the school.

A South African-based spokeswoman for Oprah said the talkshow host would have no comment before a press conference scheduled for Monday when the woman in question was expected to appear in Sebokeng Magistrate’s Court, south of Johannesburg.

The girls aged between 11 and 13 were chosen after an initial 3,500 applications, with Oprah choosing the final 152 for their academic and leadership qualities as well as disadvantaged backgrounds.

Since the school opened in January, complaints have surfaced in the press from parents saying that it was too strict while two Afrikaans-speaking girls left because of “cultural differences” and bullying.

The lavish $40 million (€27.5m) school was the fulfilment of a promise Oprah made to Nelson Mandela six years ago and aims to give girls from deprived backgrounds a quality education in a country where schools are struggling to overcome the legacy of apartheid.