OPRAH AT A PRESS CONFERENCE MONDAY
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I’m sure most, if not, all of you have caught wind to the scandal surrounding Oprah Winfrey’s school for disadvantaged girls in South Africa. This past Friday, authorities released a statement saying that a former worker at the school had been arrested on charges of abuse and sexual assault. At least seven girls have made allegations against the 27-year-old woman, police said. The woman, 27-year-old Tiny Virginia Makopo, was arrested Thursday. She was being held by police and was expected to appear in court yesterday. “Several charges including alleged assault, indecent assault, criminal injury and soliciting underage girls to perform indecent acts are being investigated against her,†said police Superintendent Lunge Dlamini. Oprah recently apologized to parents and students in a meeting at the school. Click below to see a few snippets of said apology.
I was, needless to say, devastated and really shaken to my core when I first heard this news. I spent about a half an hour crying, moving from room to room in my house. I am a mama bear when it comes to protecting my children. These girls are like my children. That’s not just rhetoric for me. I take their futures and the possibility for what their futures hold very seriously.
Oprah said she waited to fully discuss the scandal until after Makopo was formally charged. Makopo said she was innocent of the 13 charges of indecent assault, assault and criminal injury against six students ages 13 to 15 – and a 23-year-old fellow dormitory matron. Makopo was released on $450 bail and will have her day in court December 13th.
