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.