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Yes, Idols SA is still chugging along.

In fact, the 16th season wrapped up yesterday evening, which was as much of a surprise to us as when the 15th season wrapped up.

At least we are consistent.

19-year-old Zama Khumalo was declared the winner, but we will get to all of that in a moment.

Before we do, let’s see who came out tops at the other end of the spectrum, with the hotly contested Wooden Mic award.

This is also voted on, with the top 10 looking like this:

I guess some of those were genuine attempts from hopefuls who didn’t have a friend or family member brave enough to tell them not to give it a bash.

Given that the ‘winner’, Mbefu Njengempisi, has proudly shared his performance to his personal YouTube account, you’d think it might have been a publicity stunt of sorts.

Either way, congrats, I guess.

Back to the winner, Zama, with this from the Citizen:

Zama will become an instant millionaire, and win among other great prizes, Samsung products to the value of R150,000 and the all new Toyota Starlet 1.4. XR Manual. Part of the grand prize is a recording deal from Kalawa Jazmee, which is co-founded by the legendary Oskido.

The grand finale of this year’s season of the competition saw fans casting 180 million votes throughout the season to decide which talented singer between Lungisani Mthethwa [dubbed ‘Mr Music’] and  Zama, who hails from Witbank, walks away crowned the winner.

Moments after being declared the winner, with more than 20 million votes cast in the last week alone, Zama sang her Kalawa Jazmee-assisted single:

The runner-up, Mr Music, didn’t leave empty-handed, with R50 000 in cash, mobile phone products, R50 000 placed in an Old Mutual Money account, and R50 000 worth of fashion from Truworths.

Before you ask, yes, there will be a 17th season, so perhaps we’ll see you this time again next year.

[source:citizen]