All forgiven for Koyo's sake - Feuding friends make up

After clawing and throwing some unsavoury words to each other, Ephraim Molingoana and Iko Mash have made peace.

The two friends fought last week following the death of musician Koyo Bala.

Mash accused Molingoana of being "a liar without morals" and riding on the death of Bala.

Molingoana hit back that Mash did nothing for Bala in his time of need. Molingoana said he took care for Bala when he was bedridden with sickness and had lived with him for 10 years, while Mash accused him of kicking him out of the house when he got sick.

But at Tuesday's memorial service held at Bassline in Newtown, Johannesburg for Bala the two seemed to get along.

After public attacks on Molingoana in the newspapers and on social media, Mash has written an apology to him.

"We talked about what we had to talk about and we are fine now. The whole thing is over," said Mash, the flamboyant make-up artist and socialite.

Yesterday, Mash admitted guilt and said the comments came from a broken heart.

"I think that I was overwhelmed by emotions. I was in a terrible state and I think I overreacted a little bit. I truly know how Koyo loved Ephraim.

"He also deserves to celebrate and mourn Koyo like the rest of us. I was hurt. We have different ways of mourning people we love as people," explained Mash.

The owner of popular fashion house, Ephymol, Molingoana told Sowetan that he received a written apology from Mash.

"We amicably sorted everything out. There are no more issues. He sent me an apologetic message and said that everything was out of an emotional reaction.

"He apologised humbly and it's okay with me. No one forced him to apologise, it was out of his own accord and I accepted his apology," said Molingoana.

"There is no animosity. There is no bad blood and we acknowledge that what happened is a part of life. We appreciate one another and are back on one page. We are back to being friends and we are all happy," he said.

They both confirmed that they would fly to Cape Town and attend Bala's memorial service scheduled for Gugulethu Sport Complex at 4pm today.

Bala will be buried in Gugulethu on Saturday.

mashotol@sowetan.co.za