20100819
africanews

South African police fired rubber bullets to disperse crowds blocking roads and healthcare workers prevented patients from entering hospitals as a strike by more than one million civil servants grew on Thursday.

The strike for higher wages that started a day earlier has slowed the treatment of the sick and shut schools across the Africa's largest economy, worrying investors and adding pressure on the government to reach a deal.

The finance minister said he did not see a protracted strike as having a major economic impact. But analysts have said the labour action that also includes customs workers, police and clerks could slow commerce and trade.

Crowds in Soweto blocked a main road near a hospital running through the densely populated area, bringing traffic to a halt and preventing patients from entering.

"When they refused to move, minimum force had to be used. So rubber bullets were fired," police spokeswoman Captain Nondumiso Mpantsha said. Water cannon were also deployed and there were no major injuries, she said.

The unions staged a one-day warning strike last week and said the action that began on Wednesday was the start of an indefinite strike aimed at grinding the government to a halt.

Analysts expect a deal to be reached in the next few days at the earliest or by the start of September at the latest, with any agreement certain to swell state spending as the government tries to bring its deficit down from 6.7 percent of gross domestic product.