South Africa: Government 'can't afford public servants' demands'

South Africa cannot afford pay demands from thousands of public service workers and hopes a deal can be reached next week before a strike widens to nearly a million workers, a minister said on Friday. Thousands of workers from the Public Servants Association union walked off the job on Thursday, causing little impact so far to Africa's biggest economy. But that could change if the country's biggest labour group makes good on its threat to join the strike next week, which could cripple commerce.