Zuma intervenes in bid to end South African strikes

Presidential spokesman Zizi Kodwa reported on Monday that Mr Zuma had met ministers at the weekend "and he instructed them to immediately go back to the negotiating table."

South Africa's 1.3 million public-sector workers launched an indefinite strike on August 18, shutting down schools and hospitals to demand an 8.6 per cent wage increase and a 1,000 rand (£88) housing allowance.

The ANC government has signed a 7 per cent and 700 rand offer which it has threatened to impose unilaterally.

Hundreds of thousands of mineworkers have piled pressure on the government with a pledge to launch a one-day strike in the mining, construction and energy industries on Thursday in sympathy with the public service if no deal is reached.

The Cosatu union federation, which is allied with the ANC and the South African Communist Party (SACP) in the progressive Tripartite Alliance, has called on all of its affiliates to join the strike on that day, but is optimistic that a breakthrough can be achieved before then.

Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven has welcomed Mr Zuma's involvement. He said: "It's what we've been calling for - it's a high-level intervention to break the deadlock."

The federation "hopes that an improved offer will now be tabled and that the strike can be settled as quickly as possible, through an agreement that is acceptable to the workers," Mr Craven said.

He called on all strikers to maintain the "highest levels of discipline" in order to keep the strike peaceful and condemned "acts of violence or intimidation by anyone on either side, which are alien to our movement."

For its part, the SACP has expressed support for the striking workers, noting that an 8.6 per cent pay boost would begin to tackle the yawning pay gap between low-paid public-sector staff and the government's top echelons.

The party has also urged well-heeled ministers to set an example by "ensuring that there is a collective moratorium" on their own salary increases.

Rhodes University politics professor Steven Friedman hailed that idea.

He said: "People at the top need to send a message to ensure that society will start to see that the government is aware of how serious inequality is in our country."