In a clear show of strength yesterday Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi gave the government seven days to resolve the impasse between itself and public servants or face a complete shutdown.

"We will not be defeated. Cosatu will not allow public sector workers to work without victory in their hands," Vavi told an estimated 10000 public servants who marched to the offices of the departments of education and health in Johannesburg yesterday.

Public servants have been on strike for 10 days now. They are demanding an 8,6percent salary increase and a R1000 housing allowance. The government has offered a 7percent pay rise and a R700 housing subsidy.

Vavi said two million Cosatu members will take to the streets next Thursday in support of striking public servants if the government failed to meet their demands.

"Today on August 26, all Cosatu unions will be organising all their workers to issue notices to employers that they will be joining the public sector strike," said Vavi.

The strike has been seen by many as an indication of the tensions within the tripartite alliance of the governing ANC, SACP and Cosatu.

Political analyst Professor Steve Friedman said Cosatu's call for a national shutdown was an indication of how disillusioned the labour federation has become with the government's policies under Zuma.

"They have come to realise that it is not good enough to rely on who is in charge within the ANC," he said.

Cosatu Gauteng provincial chairperson Putas Tseki expressed the labour federation's disillusionment with Zuma's government. He told the crowd that leaders were voted into power because people believed they would deliver.

Tseki said Zuma's supporters had punted the line that under him the government would be more sympathetic to the needs of workers.

Friedman said workers were now realising that government policies under Zuma remained the same as they were under his predecessor Thabo Mbeki.

Some of the strikers have been taking aim at Zuma's lifestyle, waving posters, one saying: "Want four wives. Need 8,6percent increase."