.6% pay rise, improved housing subsidies , and other benefits.But South Africa's government says it can barely afford the 7% offer it has put on the table.The government needs to find 5bn rand (£440m; $687m) and will have to re-prioritise its plans for the year to fund their offer, the minister in charge of the public sector has said.It is not the final offer of choice, it is the final offer out of affordability, Minister for Public Service and Administration Richard Baloyi told reporters at the Parliament in Cape Town.'Resolute'Last week, tens of thousands of public sector workers staged marches to hand over their demands to authorities.The coalition of unions represents an estimated 1.3 million public sector workers, including government bureaucrats and judicial officials MBT shoes uk.A spokesman for Cosatu was quoted as saying that 90% of those workers could take part.The union grouping said its members planned to hold marches outside branch offices throughout the country, culminating in a national march on 26 August.We made it clear to the employer that our members were resolute in their pursuit of the original demands, Cosatu said in a statement mbt shoes sale.It is difficult to gauge the national impact of the first day of the strike but the BBC's Nomsa Maseko reports from the Natalspruit Hospital east of Johannesburg that nurses there refused to work mbt shoes clearance australia, turning away scores of patients.In a show of defiance some 200 workers marched inside the hospital wards chanting songs mbt shoes clearance, and patients said they went without food, medicine and cleaning the whole day due to the strike.The hospital is now discussing calling in army medics until the situation returns to normal, while patients in a critical condition would be transferred to nearby hospitals not affected by the protests. The UN is to launch an appeal to help Pakistan tackle the country's worst flooding in 80 years. 80 Pakistan says an urgent relief effort is needed to help those affected by the floods UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued an urgent plea for donors to generously supp Related articles: http://www.clanstump.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=44111&PID=63815#63815 http://www.phaworkers.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=60050&PID=75593#75593 http://www.leaguestats.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=368781&PID=420458#420458