Oprah Winfrey - herself at one time traumatised by abuse - burst into tears when she heard of allegations of sexual abuse and mistreatment at her prestigious Gauteng school.
"I was shaken to my core," Winfrey said on Monday. "It has been one of, if not the most, devastating experiences of my life."
The talk show queen spoke to a large international media contingent at the Sandton Sun Hotel via a satellite connection from Chicago in the US.
A scandal at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy at Henley-on-Klip, south of Joburg, has seen a dormitory matron charged with 13 counts of indecent assault and crimen injuria involving seven pupils.
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Winfrey said she had first been informed of suspicions of wrongdoing at the school on October 6 by Academy CEO John Samuel, who was approached by a group of 15 girls with a list of grievances - including one of sexual misconduct - and implored him to act.
He had taken immediate action by suspending the dorm parent concerned.
"I was shaken to my core. My experience of child predators is that no one ever abuses only one child," Winfrey said.
She hired Robert Farley, commander of the Child Exploitation Unit in Chicago, and two social workers and headed for Gauteng.
"I arrived at the school with (child psychiatrist) Dr Bruce Perry before the team. I spoke to all the girls and encouraged them to come forward, telling them that although they felt they were in an atmosphere that repressed them, they should take their voices back.
"By the next day five more came to me. So I removed all the dorm parents and put the teachers on rotating shifts."
The police were called in once it was firmly established that the alleged misconduct was of a criminal nature.
Superintendent Andre Neethling, provincial co-ordinator of the Family Violence, Sexual Offences and Child Protection Unit, based a three-man team at the school and staff from the Teddy Bear Clinic were called on to handle the girls' trauma.
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