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Mara Louw to leave Idols

Johannesburg - Mara Louw will not be a judge on Idols this year. Apparently, a replacement for Louw has already been identified and appears to be a woman working in the music industry.

The end of Louw's association with Idols comes after relations between herself and M-Net broke down in 2010 over certain comments she made about the show.

Louw was very straightforward when she said Lloyd Cele, who came in second, should have won the competition. She said the competition is riddled with racism and that there will only be a black winner if M-Net were to sell the rights to the show to the SABC.

"Blacks don't have access to DStv, so a large portion of South Africans are excluded. Whites vote for whites and the blacks are the ones who suffer," Louw told a newspaper after the end of the series.

After this incident viewers wanted Louw's blood and several groups were created on Facebook asking that she be replaced.

Louw reprimanded

Louw was also reprimanded by M-Net during the filming of the series because she mixed painkillers and liquor shortly before the filming of an episode.

Her comments were incoherent and she also said, "fuck" (but it was cut from the episode so viewers didn't see this).

Louw has been involved with the show for five seasons since 2003. During this time she often made the news because of her controversial statements, and viewers often accused her of racism.

However, this controversy intensified drastically last year.

M-Net didn't want to confirm or deny the rumours on Tuesday. "We'll probably make an announcement about the panel of judges on Wednesday or Thursday," said Lani Lombard, head of corporate communications at M-Net.

Louw could not be reached for comment.
 
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