PRAYERS AND WI-FI
How to get ahead on Idols
PRAYERS, Wi-Fi and free data have helped the last three Idols South Africa contenders to stay in the race for one of the country’s richest talent shows.
Today, Karabo Mogane, Rhema Varrie and Mmatema Moremi go head to head with hits like Michael Bublé’s Home and Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance with Somebody in the hope of making it to next weekend’s finale at the State Theatre in Pretoria.
With more than 62 million votes cast to date, the three have had their chances boosted by their churches. This week alone, 11 million votes had been cast by Tuesday.
Batting for Moremi, Conquerors through Christ Ministries made laptops available to members at its 40 branches to enable them to vote electronically. Each branch serves as “voting station” and the church also provides free airtime for additional votes.
Sipho Sibiya, a senior pastor at the church, where Moremi, 23, is a worship leader, said some members had sponsored data and airtime.
“On Wednesdays there is a special prayer service for her.”
In Nelspruit, the tiny Fountain of Life Church has encouraged its members to cast at least 30 000 votes a day for Mogane, 24.
His brother, Thapelo, said he and another relative had been hitting public places such as shopping malls each week to lobby the public for votes.
“Most of the times we have to buy data for the people, we teach them how to vote across all platforms and hope that they continue to vote,” Thapelo said.
While believing in his brother’s talent, he said: “We do understand a gift alone and prayers alone won’t help him win this competition, hence we are doing all we can.”
For Rhema Varrie, there are weekly reminders at the Victory Faith Centre in Edenvale, east of Johannesburg to make sure votes are cast. Varrie, 21, plays the piano during praise and worship sessions at the church.
He said he had been blown away by public support, with his employer giving him three months’ leave to allow him to try his luck. The Ekurhuleni municipality has also come to the party, printing T-shirts for distribution to Team Rhema and putting up big screens to allow the public to watch the live show at the Edenvale Hall.
One of the three will be out of the competition as soon as it starts tonight. The last two will sing their new single — and the Top 10 will perform as a group.
Most of the times we have to buy data for people, teach them to vote