Champ: Khaya and me this morning |
Khaya
Mthethwa is South Africa’s shiniest new star. But a single sleepness night
after winning the biggest reality show in the history of South African broadcasting
there he was, an ordinary bloke with a beaming smile.
A Buccaneer. With a touch of Mario Balotelli thrown in.
Truth is, the man crowned winner of Idols is a thoroughly nice
chap – and an ardent supporter of English Premier League Champions Manchester
City, not to mention South Africa’s PSL treble champions Orlando Pirates.
I caught up with him in the cramped lobby outside my producer’s
box at 702 in Sandton. There was the usual congratulatory hug then I asked the
vital question: which football team do you support?
“It’s got to be Manchester City,” he grinned, “They’re the best
team I’ve seen. Mario Balotelli? Oh yes!”
But locally? “Orlando Pirates… I’m a Buccaneer! I love my
football, I play when I can, always loved it. I played at school. And Andile
Jali should be in the Bafana Bafana squad!”
Khaya is not typical starry-eyed wannabe using reality
television to hit the heights. He’s a God-fearing lad from Durban. Eager to
please, modest, grateful. He started his morning at 702 with my Early Breakfast
host Shaka Sisulu, referring to him as “Mr Sisulu” and replying to questions
about media pressure by recalling: “I got some valuable advice from one of the
judges, Gareth Cliff. He said, as long as I live my life thruthfully, I have
nothing to fear from anyone.
“Right
now, at this moment in this studio at 10 to six in the morning, I am the
happiest man in South Africa. And I hardly feel tired at all!”
Later,
on John Robbie’s breakfast show, Khaya revealed: “I am a completely different
person to the man I was three months ago. Then I was a musician struggling to
make a living, to prove to my parents I could make it.
“At
school we were all forced to audition for the school choir, my teachers would
ask me to sing and I never really wanted to!
”But
both my parents are pastors at our church and that’s where I fell in love with
music and I decided that this is what I wanted to do.
“I
remember the first audition in uShaka Marine World in Durban. I was nearly
falling asleep, I’d been waiting for so long to do my piece, the queues were
huge. But the judges gave me my chance.
“The
most important thing was to convince my dad I was doing the right thing. But
after the Theatre Week he was convinced. My whole family came to watch every
one of my live Idols shows. Even when they should have been doing other things.
I’m so grateful for that.
“I look up my father, he is my hero. He taught
me to be the man I am today.
“You
won’t believe the amount of work DSTV do behind the scenes to make sure I am
prepared for this moment. It’s enormous. They teach you how to deal with the
hype, the social media, the attention. It’s like they stick you in a microwave,
push a button and you come out ready.”
Robbie,
the former Irish rugby player and tough-tackling, award-winning interviewer,
didn’t take it easy on Mthethwa. When he compared him “all young and athletic”
to the three men in court for the murder of former heavyweight boxing champion
Corrie Sanders this week, Khaya didn’t flinch. He said: “I just hope I can be a
role model for young people in South Africa, that they can see what can be
achieved. There is another way.”
Robbie
warned the devout Christian how his faith would be tested, how he would experience
things he had never expected as a reality television star. But Khaya took it
all on the chin, leaving Robbie raving: “Honestly, I’ve never watched Idols in
my life. I only grabbed Khaya in the corridor outside because I knew he’d won,
and I‘m always interested in winners.
“I
have to say, after talking to him, he is one of the most impressive young men I
have ever met. An absolute joy to talk to.”
There
are political undertones of course. Khaya’s victory – the first Idols win by a
black South African in eight attempts – came at the expense of the extremely
attractive rival finalist Melissa Alison with a record THREE MILLION votes cast
in the weeks building up to Tuesday night’s sparkling finale at Mosaiek Tatro
in Fairland.
But
Khaya, a staunch Christian and a member of Joyous Celebration, insists he “gets
sad" about the race issue. It was left to his close pal and radio
presenter Akhumzi Jezile to say: “I’ve never seen so many black people excited
about Idols.”
And
as Khaya prepares for a new life armed with a winners’ cheque of R1m and a
recording contract with Universal Music, Jezile added: "I believed in
Khaya from his first audition. When he decided to enter, he came to my mom's
house carrying a stack of CDs. The only one I remember was Bruno Mars. And that
was what got him through his first audition – Bruno’s The Way You Are."
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