The media headlines have a way of misconstruing the most trivial of circumstances. Except that sometimes they are right on point; like a case of sexual assault in an all-girl’s school in Johannesburg. Oprah had lots of questions to answer about the alleged charges of abuse at her girls' academy in South Africa.The scoop: a lady named Virginia Mokgobo worked at the Oprah Leadership Academy was slapped with an indecent assault charge. She worked as a dormitory matron at the school and was arrested on charges including assault, indecent assault and soliciting under-age girls to perform indecent acts.
This is definitely not my idea of good news for Oprah in her ‘world saving’ assignment but lets face it, there is so much one woman can do. Of course Oprah is as close as humanity will get to a ‘Wonder Woman’ and one thing I know is that conducting background checks in South Africa is not exactly the most fascinating gig.
The irony of life is hitting home to South Africa in the past month; - first a Lucky Dube spend all his life fighting for peace and harmony and against crime and violence, only to be gunned down in the middle of a street. And now my girl Oprah Winfrey spends ‘muchos muchos dollares’ to educate innocent girls in a ‘safe’ environment; and Virginia Mokgobo shows up.
The enemy within is usually much more potent than we give them credit for. Child predators show up in all shapes and sizes, and especially the alarming rates of rape and sexual abuse in South Africa makes the issue a little more pertinent than a local news feature.
Of course, Oprah will have to do some serious house cleaning to protect her $40 million investment and maybe adopt some Russian KGB employment procedures along the way. But even then, there are no guarantees.
What’s my point? Irrespective of life’s dynamic, all we have is the illusion of safety.
Meanwhile, my New England Patriots crushed the Colts in the RCA dome. Just thought Ill mention that.
