The former dorm matron of Oprah's Winfrey's $40 million South Africa school accused of abusing students at the institution is slated to go on trial today.
Reports say Tiny Virginia Makopo -- the 28-year old charged with indecent assault, assault and criminal injury of six girls and a fellow matron -- is expected to plead not guilty.
The trial -- during which the girls are expected to provide accounts of the abuse -- is closed to the public and is expected to last until Friday.
What others are saying about the trial:
• The Times: The shocking facts of abuse at Winfrey's school
• Oprah school matron on trial
• BBC: Oprah school abuse trial starts
• Iol: Accused pleads not guilty in Oprah case
This seems fishy to me. Right after she holds a fund raiser for Barack Obama this extremely strange scandal surfaces at her school. It's great that Oprah is assuming the accusations are valid, replacing the staff, hiring detectives, and a trauma expert, but she may also want to investigate if anyone with anti-Obama political connections was seen talking to those girls or their parents before these accusations were made. I hate to be so cynical, but there's a lot of evil people out there & politics is a dirty business.