Following the 'Idols' voting scandal, M-Net have issued a timeline of events. Here's what happened:

Voting to determine the Idols winner opened at the end of the 'Idols' Results Show on Monday, 27 April at 7.30pm and closed on Sunday, 3 May at 6.05pm, during the live 'Idols' final.

The financial services firm, Alexander Forbes, verified the results by 6.15pm and the winner announcement was made at 7pm. The results were determined by all the votes that M-Net and Alexander Forbes had received by 6.05pm and Sasha Lee was named the winner.

There was no negligence on the part of Alexander Forbes, as they verified the number of votes that had been received at the cut-off time.

Votes reached M-Net and Alexander Forbes through the normal delivery route. The cell phone user sent the SMS by using a cell phone provider (Vodacom, MTN or Cell C). From there the votes travelled to the Wireless Application Service Provider, Grapevine Interactive, and from there, to M-Net. Thereafter Alexander Forbes verified the results for the presenter to make the announcement.

On Monday 4 May, the regular post-show analysis of statistics began at M-Net, revealing that the total number of SMS votes counted and verified on Sunday night did not add up to the total number of SMS votes received.

When it was discovered that M-Net might not have received and counted all the SMS votes cast by 6.05pm, more verifying data was immediately requested and the independent auditing KMPG was called in on Wednesday, 6 May, to conduct the verification process.

The three cell phone mobile operators, as well as the Wireless Application Service Provider, offered their full co-operation and by 2pm on Thursday, 7 May, KPMG had received all the raw data

At that time, five KPMG data specialists began to analyse the data. They looked at all SMS votes sent from the time that the voting lines opened until 6.05pm on Sunday night when the voting lines closed. It was very important for M-Net to tally all the votes sent before the cut-off time, even if received later, as these were valid votes. Votes sent after the cut-off time were automatically disqualified, as is the usual practice.

M-Net informed the two finalists, as well as their families, that inconsistent SMS data was being investigated and a media release was issued about the matter.

By 10pm on Thursday, 7 May, KPMG were able to verify the total number of legitimate SMS votes sent by fans before the cut-off time, as well as the number of SMS?s counted and verified before the winner announcement was made on Sunday night. They confirmed that Alexander Forbes had been correct with their verification.

KPMG found that more than 600 000 SMS votes were received at the end of the delivery route, hours after the voting lines were closed, but that these votes had been sent well before the cut-off time. These votes, which were in limbo somewhere in cyberspace, could have swayed the vote. Therefore all valid votes, sent before 6.05pm, but received much later, were recounted.

At 11am on Friday, 8 May, KMPG was able to verify the number of valid SMS votes for each of the Top 2 contestants.

After all the "lost" votes were added, it was determined that Jason had received 1.3 million votes and Sasha Lee, 1.1 millon votes.

Even though there have been SMS-related glitches in some international 'Idols' shows, this was a unique situation and M-Net consulted Fremantle Media in the UK, who hold the rights to the format.

M-Net and Fremantle Media agreed that there were now two winners: Sasha Lee was named the winner based on the data available to M-Net when the announcement had been made, and Jason was now also a winner after receiving the most votes when the lost data was included.

Both Sasha-Lee and Jason welcomed the decision and at the media conference, held at M-Net at 1pm on Friday 8 May, they jointly voiced their approval and appreciation.

The 'Idols' sponsors offered to double the "winner's prize package" so that both Sasha-Lee and Jason could receive the same prizes.

M-Net also emphasised that the delivery problem pertained to SMS's only, and that all valid votes cast by dialling the IVR "086" numbers from landlines and cell phone numbers were accurately counted.

M-Net is currently conducting a technical investigation to ascertain what went wrong.

"Once we fully understand this, we will put systems in place to ensure this does not happen again," the company stated on the official 'Idols' website.

"We believe that the final decision was respectful to Jason, Sasha Lee, their families and fans and we trust that the public will support both winners. They have been through a stressful, turbulent time and deserve to be treated like true 'Idols'."