Oprah school parent: 'I will stand for her'

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- The father of a girl who complained about the conduct of a dormitory matron at Oprah Winfrey's school for girls here said Wednesday he fully supports the talk show host and her vision for the school.

The man, who was not named to protect his daughter's identity, said Winfrey is not to blame for the alleged actions of the matron, who has been charged with 13 counts of abuse and assault.

"Oprah has never done anything wrong," he said. "Can't blame her. I will stand for her."

He said he and his family met Sunday with Winfrey at the school.

"Everything is sorted out. I am very happy. The family is comfortable," the man told CNN's Robyn Curnow in a phone interview.

He said his daughter, who was with the family at the visit to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, was welcomed back in a "big way" by the other students, teachers and management.

While he wouldn't discuss exactly what his family and the talk show host talked about, he said they agreed that "the only thing we need to do as parents is to work with Oprah for the school to be a success."

His daughter left the school after complaining about the actions of a dormitory matron. That woman, 27-year-old Tiny Virginia Makopo, pleaded not guilty this month to charges of assault and indecent assault, which in South Africa is defined as the touching of another person's private parts without consent. The charges include "crimen injuria," which involves verbal abuse that violates the victim's dignity.

Makopo is free on bail and due back in court December 13.

Prosecutors allege she abused seven females -- six girls between the ages of 13 and 14, and a 23-year-old woman.

After learning of the alleged abuse, Winfrey said, the school immediately removed all matrons from the dorms replaced them with teachers. The school's headmistress will not return when her contract expires at the end of the year, Winfrey said.

The man said that the headmistress had told Winfrey that his daughter left the school because her mother wanted to take her shopping.

He said the headmistress was lying to try to "cover herself" because she had failed to act on the abuse allegations.

His daughter, he said, will return to school in the new year, entering 8th grade with the rest of her class.

Winfrey has said she learned of the abuse allegations in October, after 15 girls from the school complained to the facility's director.

The talk show host -- who has spoken publicly about abuse she suffered as a child -- said she cried for half an hour after receiving the call, then hired a team of American private investigators to work with South African police on the case.

"I wanted to hire an independent team because my experience with child predators is that no one ever, ever abuses just one child," Winfrey said.

"Although the girls had only spoken of one classmate, my first priority was to determine how many girls had actually been affected and to what extent."

After a week of interviews, she said, more girls came forward to report abuse. Police have said one instance involves Makopo allegedly grabbing a girl by the throat and throwing her against a wall, but Winfrey also mentioned sexual abuse of the girls.

When Winfrey opened the school with fanfare this year, she said she hoped it would provide opportunities to girls from poor backgrounds. She personally approved each of the 152 students, many of whom were at the top of their classes, and said she feels like they are her own children. E-mail to a friend

CNN Correspondent Robyn Curnow contributed to this report.

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