The former headmistress of Oprah Winfrey's South African school is suing the U.S. talk show host for defamation.

Nomvuyo Mzamane, who led the South African Leadership Academy for Girls, filed a lawsuit against Winfrey in Philadelphia on Friday (03Oct08) in an attempt to salvage her professional reputation, according to People.com.

The civil suit claims Winfrey "launched what amounted to a defamatory campaign" against Mzamane late last year (07) by implying that Mzamane is "untrustworthy, failed the students of the academy, did not care about the students at the academy, knew of alleged physical and sexual abuse at the academy and participated in a cover-up of the alleged abuse."

The suit cites comments to the media Winfrey allegedly made in October and November last year (07) after a dorm matron at the school was charged with assaulting and abusing six students. (LJ/WNWCPL/MJ)

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