Nearly two decades after opening a transformative boarding school for disadvantaged young women outside Johannesburg, media mogul and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey has announced that the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls will cease operations at its current campus at the end of 2025, with full ownership transferred to South Africa’s Gauteng provincial education department. The landmark institution, first opened in 2007, grew out of a conversation with anti-apartheid icon and former South African President Nelson Mandela, who emphasized how investing in girls’ education could unlock widespread, lasting change across the continent. Mandela was in attendance at the academy’s grand opening to mark the launch of the project.
From its inception, the handover of the 52-acre campus to local educational authorities was always part of the core agreement, academy representatives confirmed. The facility, which boasts 21 classrooms, six specialized science and computer labs, a 10,000-volume library, and a 600-seat performance theater, will now be taken over by the Gauteng provincial government, which has not yet announced its long-term plans for the property.
Winfrey emphasized in a formal statement released Wednesday that the end of operations at the current campus does not mark the end of her commitment to empowering young South African women through education. “The dream was never simply to build a school,” Winfrey said. “It was to invest in the limitless potential of young women. That mission doesn’t end with one campus. It continues in every girl whose future can be transformed through education.”
Moving forward, Winfrey’s philanthropic organization, the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation, will expand its national scholarship program to support academically gifted girls at top-performing schools across South Africa. To date, more than 500 students have graduated from the Leadership Academy, with many going on to pursue higher education at leading universities in South Africa, the United States, and across Europe.
Gauteng’s Provincial Minister for Education Lebogang Maile confirmed that current students enrolled at the academy will be able to complete their secondary education without disruption, with full financial support remaining in place through their graduation.
The academy made global headlines shortly after its opening, when multiple students made accusations of physical and sexual abuse against a residential dormitory matron. Winfrey traveled immediately to South Africa to meet with affected students and their families, issued a public apology for the failure to protect students, and commissioned an independent probe into the allegations. The matron was ultimately acquitted of all criminal charges in a 2010 court ruling.