South African police have fired rubber bullets and water cannon at crowds of striking civil servants protesting outside a hospital in Soweto. More than a million public workers began the indefinite strike yesterday calling for higher wages. More unions have joined in on the second day of industrial action. The Unions are demanding a pay rise of 8.6 per cent. But South Africa's government says it can barely afford the 7 per cent offer it has put on the table for the police, teachers, doctors and nurses.