Claws have been bared in the latest celebrity duel as two sexy stars tear into each other over the charms of television stud Lunga Shabalala.

It all started on Sunday afternoon when model Keitumetse "K Naomi" Noinyane, an old flame of Shabalala fired a tweet: "@Omuhle_Gela Lunga Shabalala isn't mine... you can have him again, this time not during my relationship."

Actress Omuhle Gela shot back: "@KNaomi_M During your relationship? Clearly you lacked something... not my fault".

Yesterday Gela told Sowetan that Noinyane was self-destructive. "She was just fighting herself, there's nothing happening between us right now."

Gela, who starred in Muvhango and is now on Umlilo, said Noinyane might have been angered by the fact that Shabalala tried to woo her while he was dating Noinyane.

"It's just a case of man being wrong. Her man was asking me out while they were dating, but this happened years ago. I don't know why she chose to air it out on Twitter now."

Gela said she and Noinyane often bumped into each other at events, but not once did Noinyane bring the issue up. "She just woke up and decided to speak about it."

Gela was coy to reveal if she and Shabalala hooked up or not, insisting on the tried and trusted "we're just good friends" reply.

But Noinyane, a Channel O presenter, insisted that Gela was the third party that led to the demise of her relationship with Shabalala. "She was the reason we broke up," she said without elaborating. She said her tweet explained it all. "There's no beef between me and her [Gela]. We have never even been friends," she concluded.

Shabalala was unavailable to comment but his manager, Percy Vilakazi, said he was not dating either of the women.

"He's a very busy guy. We had a lengthy discussion about this yesterday and he said he's just focusing on work. He is not dating anybody right now."

tiwaneb@timesmedia.co.za