Karabo wins the biggest season of Idols SA to date

Karabo Mogane from Mbombela is South Africa’s new Idol

24-year-old Karabo Mogane from Mbombela is South Africa’s new Idol. The former Stellenbosch student with the soothing voice secured the lion’s share of the more than 16 million votes cast for him and runner-up Mmatema Moremi (23) from Limpopo during the past week.

Not only did the Top 2 smash all previous weekly voting records; this season also made Idols SA history with an astonishing grand total of 78.8 million votes, surpassing last season’s previous record of 24,3 million.

Karabo, who was now-notoriously told by Idols SA judge Somizi Mhlongo at his very first audition that he had a ‘dishwashing-water personality’, walks off with an array of prizes that includes a recording contract from Universal Music South Africa.

For the first time ever, the new Idols winner’s record will also be available within two weeks of the final, in time to land up in Christmas stockings across the country.

In addition to a recording contract with Universal Music South Africa Karabo also wins:

• R700 000 cash from M-Net, Mzansi Magic and Telkom SA, as well as a SmartBroadband Wireless 50GB 55 Inch Smart TV, a Huawei B593 4G LTE router with a 24-month Repeater Deal 6 and 50GB + 50GB Night Surfer (100GB), as well as a PlayStation 4, worth a total of R41 000 from Telkom SA,
• a R225 900 Ford Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost Titanium from Ford South Africa,
• From Truworths, fashion to the value of R100 000,
• Microphone equipment from Shure to the value of R135 000, including a ULX-D dual wireless digital receiver, with 2 Shure Beta58 microphones, an in-ear earphone and monitor system, and a flight case to house the equipment,
• And from Yamaha, R70 000 worth of musical equipment.

Headline Idols SA sponsor Telkom SA will also fly Karabo to L.A. next year to attend the finalé of American Idol, which comes to a close next year after fifteen successful seasons. And he also gets to open for South African supergroup MiCasa on the final concert of their “Dare To Love” tour at Carnival City, Johannesburg, on the 11th of December.

Karabo’s winner’s single “Ding Dong” is available for download right now and is already charting on the South African iTunes chart.

Idols SA Season 11 was an M-Net and Mzansi Magic production. -Multichoice