Unions representing hundreds of thousands of striking South Africa’s civil servants suspended their protest after a night’s wage talks with the government, union officials said yesterday.

“They made an announcement saying that they had suspended the strike,” Fikile Majola, secretary general of National Education Health and Allied Workers (NEHAWU), told Reuters. He said NEHAWU voted on Wednesday to withdraw from the mass action, joining several other unions who had pulled out. Unions said on Wednesday night they would announce their response to a government wage offer yesterday , raising hopes the end was in sight to a crippling four-week strike.

This decision to accept the latest government offer ended one of the largest mass actions since the end of apartheid in 1994 that saw some 600,000 teachers, nurses and other civil servants walk off the job on June 1 to push for a 12 percent pay hike.

It also eased pressure on President Thabo Mbeki, whose ruling African National Congress (ANC) is holding a crucial policy conference amid some of the worst divisions in its post-apartheid history.

The strike underscored stark differences between the ANC and its labour allies, who blame the former liberation movement for abandoning the poor through its pro-business economic policies. Unions later reduced their demand to 9 percent. The government – with a wary eye on rising inflation pressures – has stood firm at 7.5 percent.