Body of dead newborn found at Oprah's South African school

The body of a newborn baby has been found at the South African school founded by American chatshow host Oprah Winfrey after a student hid her pregnancy and gave birth unaided. Police said the body was found at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, near Johannesburg, after a 17-year-old gave birth on Wednesday.
A local newspaper claimed that the body was found in a plastic bag alongside clothes covered in blood. Reports have so far not confirmed if the baby had been murdered or died of natural causes.
Police Captain Shado Mashobane said: ‘Yes the girl gave birth to the baby at the school, but we can’t confirm what happened to it. A case of concealment of death is being investigated.’ The girl, who was a pupil at the academy, was taken to hospital for treatment, which led to the discovery of the body. A Chicago-based spokesman for the school said they will not be commenting on the case as it involves a minor.
This is not the school’s first scandal. A former school matron was let go after she was accused of sexual misconduct Miss Winfrey opened the boarding school in January 2007 in the village of Henley on Kilp. However it has been beset by problems, and shortly after it opened school matron Virginia Tiny Makopo was charged with sexually molesting several girls. She was later acquitted.
Miss Winfrey  also fired the school’s headmistress Lerato Nomvuyo Mzamane. She was sued by Mzamane, but the case was settled out of court. Oprah has a house at the school, which she funded with $40million of her own money The 57-year-old started the academy after being inspired by her own humble beginnings and said that she hoped the school would provide opportunities to pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. She is very involved with all aspects of the school, from selecting the school uniform to interviewing every one of the 152 girls who attended the year it opened. The talk show queen spent $40million to build the school and keeps a home on its property, visiting when she can. According to Winfrey, the students call her ‘Mama Oprah.’ Nelson Mandela was among the guests at the opening, as were Tina Turner, Mary J. Blige and Mariah Carey, actors Sidney Poitier and Chris Tucker and director Spike Lee. ‘I love these girls with every part of my being. I didn’t know you could feel this way about other people’s children,’ she said at its opening.