JAMIE PETERSEN
A Hout Bay teen was among the Cape Town hopefuls who were given a golden ticket to the next round of audi- tions for the 12th season of Idols SA.
The first round of Cape Town auditions took place in Cape Town on Wednesday March 9 at GrandWest. More than 1 000 wannabe singers registered to audition at the Cape Town leg, which was the last round of auditions. The Mother City had the second highest number of golden ticket winners, with 20 being awarded..
Afrikaans rap superstar, Jack Parow replaced Gareth Cliff for the Cape Town auditions, as he was away in the United States. The rest of the judging panel stayed the same.
Among those given the envied golden ticket was Bongiwe Mngomezulu, 18, from Hout Bay who said she’s very excited for what’s to come. “I’m very excited, I can’t believe it. I’m so grateful for everyone who’s been there my whole life,” she said.
Bongiwe said she had originally planned to study this year, but because she didn’t get accepted anywhere, de-cided to enter Idols SA. “I applied for school and I didn’t get accepted. But I thought to myself I’m not going to let this year go to waste. I have to do something productive with it, and I thought pursuing my talent is something I had to do,” she said.
This was the first time she auditioned and she said she had doubts about getting a golden ticket. “I had doubts, but my family was behind me all the way,” she said. She sang Pretty Hurts by Beyonce, “I love Beyonce. Beyonce’s like my mom but she doesn’t know that. I just felt that I connected with the song and it would be the perfect song for me,” she said.
This season is the first time the Top 16 round, scheduled for Friday April 8, will be open to the public.
Season 12 of Idols SA will be broadcast from Sunday July 17 on Mzansi Magic, DStv channel 161 at 5pm.
