Arrest made in abuse case at Oprah Winfrey school, police spox

(2 Nov 2007) SHOTLIST
FILE: Henley-on-Klip, near Johannesburg – 2 January 2007
1. Wide of the Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls
2. Children pulling the South African flag up a flag pole
3. US talk show host Oprah Winfrey cutting ribbon to open the school
4. Media
5. Various of Winfrey speaking to the media
Johannesburg – 2 November 2007
6. Wide of Gauteng Police provincial head office
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini, Gauteng province police spokesman:
“We arrested a former employee who was working at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. She was arrested yesterday for several charges including assault, indecent assault, as well as soliciting girls under the age to commit indecent assault and she is now at the Vereeniging police cells.”
FILE: Henley-on-Klip, near Johannesburg – 2 January 2007
8. Winfrey on stage
Johannesburg – 2 November 2007
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini, Gauteng province police spokesman:
“I think the school has been open because they handed us a report about what was happening there, and they asked us to investigate what was happening there and on our investigation, we arrested the woman who is a former employee. I think they have been open to make sure that all the criminal actions that have been taking place at the school are investigated.”
FILE: Henley-on-Klip, near Johannesburg – 2 January 2007
10. Winfrey surrounded by media
11. Media
12. Winfrey walking with children
STORYLINE
A woman who used to work at an elite girls’ school in South Africa established by talk show host Oprah Winfrey has been arrested in connection with charges of abuse and sexual assault at the school, police said on Friday.
Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls in Henley-on-Klip, near Johannesburg, was opened on 2 January 2007, for the education of disadvantaged South African girls.
It cost Winfrey 40 million US dollars to build.
Winfrey’s office did not immediately comment on the scandal, but scheduled a press conference for Monday that Winfrey was expected to address via satellite.
Gauteng Province police spokesman Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini said the 27-year-old former dormitory matron was arrested on Thursday.
“Several charges including assault, indecent assault, as well as soliciting girls under the age to commit indecent assault,” Dlamini said, adding that she was being held in police cells in the city of Vereeniging.
At least seven victims had submitted statements from Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls, he said.
The woman was expected to appear in a magistrate’s court in a town south of Johannesburg on Monday, he said.
The school had announced on October 17 that a dormitory matron had been suspended amid allegations of serious misconduct.
In a statement last month, Winfrey said, “Nothing is more serious or devastating to me than an allegation of misconduct by an adult against any girl at the academy.”
The school’s chief executive said then that an internal inquiry had been initiated “based on one serious claim
of misconduct involving a dormitory parent.”
He said the accused employee had been removed from the campus and that he had taken “immediate action to ensure the safety and well-being of the academy’s learners.”
Detectives from the U.S. and South Africa had been hired to assist with the inquiry.
The headmistress was also given paid leave to ensure an impartial investigation, the school said.

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