Shakes Mashaba's case against the SA Football Association (Safa) is now heading to arbitration after the parties failed to reach an agreement during conciliation at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) in Johannesburg yesterday.

The axed Bafana Bafana coach, who is seeking reinstatement, began what's sure to be a messy battle with his former employers after he was shown the exit door in December following a disciplinary committee hearing.

Mashaba was found guilty of, among other things, gross misconduct and gross insubordination.

Yesterday's session at the CCMA was to see if the two parties could reach some sort of an agreement, but a failure to get to this point means this case will drag on a bit more.

Because Safa have always been adamant that they have done everything by the book, it's no surprise that there was no agreement yesterday.

At date for the arbitration has not yet been set.

"As a I mentioned before, there was conciliation with the mediator to see if the parties would be able to come to an agreement. But it was not successful," said Mashaba's representative Claudio Bollo yesterday.

"So now there's arbitration court before the CCMA commissioner.

"We are obviously going to seek an urgent date and we will inform you when this happens."

He added: "I can't go into details, but both parties explored all possibilities in terms of reaching an agreement.

"Unfortunately, although we went into this with an open mind, there was no agreement."

As he walked out after the proceedings yesterday, Mashaba did not want pictures taken of him by the Sowetan photographer.

The axed coach is hellbent on not talking to the media throughout this whole process, as he focuses on fighting for what he and his representatives refer to as "unfair dismissal".

Bollo is hoping that this case will at least be resolved by next month.

Meanwhile, Mashaba's representatives had requested Safa not to appoint a new coach while the matter is being resolved.

The association said last month that they were convening a meeting to discuss the new coach, but they will only confirm an appointment of a new man to occupy the hot seat next month.

A number of coaches have already been linked to the Bafana Bafana head coaching position, including former England boss Roy Hodgson and two-time Africa Cup of Nations winner Herve Renard.