South Africa's three-week-old public sector strike has been suspended, but the main teachers' union says this does not mean they have accepted the government's latest wage offer. Workers will go back to work on Tuesday and will be given 21 days to consider their next move.

The strike by 1.3 million public servants has hamstrung hospitals and closed schools. The government last week offered a wage hike of 7.5 percent, but the workers are holding out for 8.6 percent.

The suspension will bring relief to millions of South Africans.

The organisation People Living With Aids, for example, was among those vociferously urging the workers to return to their posts to enable patients to continue their antiretroviral treatment.

It will also be a comfort to strikers who have not been paid while manning the picketlines.

The unions are painting the suspension as a victory, maintaining they forced the government to come up with a higher offer.

But analysts say the unions will face a challenge if they tried to bring their members out again.

The strike saw a new split in the ruling triple alliance of the African National Congress, the Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions.

The workers' representatives made unprecedented attacks on President Jacob Zuma's polygamous lifestyle, and the fact that members of his family have enriched themselves since he came to office last year.