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Johannesburg - Khaya Mthethwa is the winner of Idols Season 8.
Almost 3 million South Africans voted in the past week in the hottest Idols contest in many years, M-Net said in a statement.
The 25-year-old singer from Durban beat out 23-year-old Melissa Allison from Port Elizabeth to clinch the title by receiving the most votes from viewers.
M-Net will only release the official vote split figures on Friday.
Khaya was announced the winner at a gala finale held at the Mosaïek Teatro in Fairland, Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The special 90-minute long show featured performances by previous Idol Dave van Vuuren and other musicians including Jack Parow, FreshlyGround, Toya Delazy and Zakes Bantwini.
M-Net said the winner of the popular Wooden Mic award, Gavin Meltz, was in the audience on Tuesday and another promising Wooden Mic finalist, Sarah Modiba from Johannesburg, was given a special surprise this year to see how Wooden Mic contestants would fare given the full Idols treatment.
Sarah was given an Idols makeover with coaching sessions from the Idols vocal coaches and she made her stage debut in Tuesday's show, singing the ballad I Believe I Can Fly.
As the winner of Idols Season 8, Khaya takes home with him a prize package worth almost R1m, including a recording contract with Universal Music South Africa.
He will start working on his album with Universal Music within the next couple of weeks, and his first single is already getting airplay, M-Net said.
The single, Move is available for download by texting 'Khaya' to 39006 (R15 per full track download).
Watch Khaya's performance as the new Idols winner here:
Almost 3 million South Africans voted in the past week in the hottest Idols contest in many years, M-Net said in a statement.
The 25-year-old singer from Durban beat out 23-year-old Melissa Allison from Port Elizabeth to clinch the title by receiving the most votes from viewers.
M-Net will only release the official vote split figures on Friday.
Khaya was announced the winner at a gala finale held at the Mosaïek Teatro in Fairland, Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The special 90-minute long show featured performances by previous Idol Dave van Vuuren and other musicians including Jack Parow, FreshlyGround, Toya Delazy and Zakes Bantwini.
M-Net said the winner of the popular Wooden Mic award, Gavin Meltz, was in the audience on Tuesday and another promising Wooden Mic finalist, Sarah Modiba from Johannesburg, was given a special surprise this year to see how Wooden Mic contestants would fare given the full Idols treatment.
Sarah was given an Idols makeover with coaching sessions from the Idols vocal coaches and she made her stage debut in Tuesday's show, singing the ballad I Believe I Can Fly.
As the winner of Idols Season 8, Khaya takes home with him a prize package worth almost R1m, including a recording contract with Universal Music South Africa.
He will start working on his album with Universal Music within the next couple of weeks, and his first single is already getting airplay, M-Net said.
The single, Move is available for download by texting 'Khaya' to 39006 (R15 per full track download).
Watch Khaya's performance as the new Idols winner here:
