Oprah pictured with students at opening of South African Leadership Academy
Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey is being sued for defamation by the former headmistress of her South African academy.
Nomvuyo Mzamane, who led the South African Leadership Academy for Girls, filed a lawsuit against Winfrey in Philadelphia on Friday, October 3 in an attempt to salvage her professional reputation.
The civil suit claims Winfrey "launched what amounted to a defamatory campaign" against Mzamane late last year by implying that Mzamane is "untrustworthy, failed the students of the academy, did not care about the students at the academy, knew of alleged physical and sexual abuse at the academy and participated in a cover-up of the alleged abuse."
The suit cites comments allegedly made by Winfrey in October and November last year in 2007, after a dorm matron at the school was charged with assaulting and abusing six students, according to People.com.
Mzamane issued a statement last November, saying she did not know about the alleged abuse.
"We were forced to file this lawsuit because we didn't get what we wanted a year ago – a public apology," Mzamane's attorney, Tim McGowan, tells People.com.
"Before the suit was filed, all Mzamane wanted was Oprah to say 'I made a mistake. This lady didn't cover up any abuse,' " McGowan explained. "Oprah went on TV and ruined her reputation. So she wanted her to go back on TV and restore her reputation."
