New York, March 31 : Oprah Winfrey's girls-only boarding school in South Africa has landed in another sex scandal in less than two years.

Seven students at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls now face suspension after being accused of sexually harassing their fellow pupils.

According to the newspaper Afrikaans on Sunday, a girl of 15 was found guilty of preying upon another student and forcing other girls to conceal the truth from investigators.

Other girls were "caught fondling each other or trying to get other girls to join them in lesbian liaisons".

Lisa Halliday, Oprah''s spokesperson, confirmed the suspension.

"It is because they contravened the school''s code of conduct. We regard the incident as confidential," the New York Daily News quoted her as saying.

The incident comes nearly two years after a female school staffer was accused of physically and sexually abusing students in October 2007.

On learning upon the sex charges, Oprah had then said: "I am a mama bear when it comes to protecting my children.

"These girls are like my children. That''s not just rhetoric for me. I take their futures and the possibility for what their futures hold very seriously." (ANI)