Oprah Winfrey will close the leadership academy for girls she founded in South Africa nearly two decades ago, ending a chapter that began with a promise to a president and grew into one of the most closely watched educational experiments on the continent. The announcement was made on Wednesday. The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLAG) will shut its doors at the end of the 2027 academic year, after which its sprawling campus south of Johannesburg will be turned over to local education authorities.
The decision, announced in a statement issued by the academy on Wednesday, closes out an arrangement that was baked into the school’s founding: that the campus would ultimately pass to the provincial education department. Winfrey’s charitable foundation ran and financed the boarding school, which serves girls in grades eight through 12, but the handover was always part of the original agreement.
Winfrey, 72, said the dream was never merely about constructing a single school. Rather, she explained, her mission was to unlock the boundless promise of young women, a goal that extends far beyond any one institution and lives on in each girl whose life is changed by learning opportunities.
A Promise Made to Mandela
The academy traces its origins to 2002, when Winfrey and Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader who served as South Africa’s president, discussed how educating girls could change lives. Those conversations became the seed for a school aimed at students from under-privileged backgrounds. When OWLAG opened its doors in 2007, Mandela was among the guests at the opening ceremony.
Built at a reported cost of $40 million in the village of Henley-on-Klip, the campus was ambitious by any measure. The 52-acre grounds hold facilities including 21 classrooms, six labs for science and computers, a library with 10,000 volumes, and a theater with seating for 600. The Gauteng provincial government will take over the property, though officials did not immediately say what they intend to do with it.
Gauteng’s education department signaled it intends to honor the school’s mission. The province said it is committed to preserving and advancing the academy’s legacy and will ensure the institution continues to serve the people of Gauteng. Lebogang Maile, the provincial minister for education, said students currently enrolled will be able to finish their schooling with uninterrupted financial support.
Scholarships Instead of a Single Campus
Rather than end her involvement in South African education, Winfrey is redirecting it. The academy said her commitment will continue through an expanded national scholarship program that supports academically talented girls at leading schools across the country. A representative for Winfrey said the new model will roughly double the number of girls who can access education through this approach — a shift the rep described as the heart of the decision to move on after two decades.
For the students still enrolled — 281 of them — the transition is designed to be seamless. Those who have not yet graduated when the school closes will be placed at other top-tier schools, with their tuition paid in full by Winfrey through their graduation. The new scholarship program is set to begin after OWLAG’s remaining students have moved on.
“The dream that began with one academy will now reach even farther,” Winfrey said in a video, describing plans to open doors for more young women through scholarships and educational partnerships.
Scandal, Scrutiny and a Record of Graduates
The academy has not been free of controversy. Shortly after it opened in 2007, a dormitory matron faced accusations from multiple students of physical and sexual abuse. Winfrey flew to South Africa to speak with the affected students and their families, issued a public apology, and arranged for an independent inquiry into the allegations. Criminal proceedings against the matron concluded in 2010 with her acquittal.
The school also drew criticism from the start over its lavish grounds, which reportedly included two theaters, a yoga studio and a beauty salon. Some commentators questioned whether the money might have stretched further across more students nationwide. The recent closure announcement fueled online speculation about mismanagement, but a public relations consultant working for the foundation denied that any such problems drove the decision.
By the accounts of those who ran it, the academy delivered on its central aim. More than 1,000 girls have graduated, according to figures cited by the foundation, and its alumnae have gone on to top universities in South Africa, the United States and Europe. Many have become doctors, lawyers, engineers, artists, executives and entrepreneurs.
Andronica Klaas, a 2012 graduate now working as a senior engineering lead at Meta, credited the school with reshaping her sense of possibility. “OWLAG convinced me that preparation, character and purpose mattered more than where I came from,” she said.
As she looks back on the school’s alumnae spread across nearly every field of work, Winfrey struck a note of pride. “I am dazzled and in awe of them,” she said, describing graduates who are now businesswomen, lawyers, mothers, doctors, artists and chief executives. The promise, she said, does not end with the campus — it keeps growing.