Top Of The Pops

He didn’t get through the first audition but Luyolo Yiba didn’t let that stop him – and he went on to win Idols SA!

- Siya Tsewu

SHORTLY after arriving at our office in Joburg, he picks up a steamer to steam-iron his shirt. Luyolo Yiba wants to look sharp for our photoshoot. But he is quickly interrupted by someone from the M-Net PR team, who insists on tackling the task so the Idols SA season 15 winner can relax and focus on his interview.

Clearly the sweet-natured, modest attitude that earned him the adoration of fans across the country has not been an act – even now, with his newfound fame and millionaire status.

He was seen by many as the underdog of the competition, but Luyolo recently beat fellow Eastern Cape-born Sneziey Msomi to Idols SA glory. His charm is all down to an “ordinary and strict” upbringing, he tells DRUM.

Luyolo (25) and his three siblings, Yanga (31), Abongile (21) and Salizwa (9), were raised in a Christian home by lecturer mom Noncedo and traffic cop dad Dumisani in King William’s Town.

Every Sunday he and his family went to church, where he played the trumpet in the church band. His father set a 6pm curfew throughout his childhood, which he says he and his siblings dared not miss. And though it felt like punishment at the time, being indoors early at night is likely what saved him from getting mixed up with the wrong crowd.

“As I grew older, the less friends I had– because it was not like the time we used to play marbles and cars and all go home at 6pm. Suddenly amajita (the guys) had lives after 6pm, which meant I was always the odd one out who never had stories to tell,” Luyolo says.

“But I would listen as they narrated to me what went down in the streets after dark. All of that groomed me to be the man I am today.”