* Fresh government offer delays mass strike
* Major union group COSATU to respond on Tuesday
* Pressure on government to reach deal (Changes dateline to PRETORIA, recasts with news briefing)
By Peroshni Govender
PRETORIA, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Major South African public sector unions will respond next week to a revised government pay offer, suspending for several days a threatened mass strike they said would bring services to a halt, officials said on Friday.
The offer has temporarily defused tensions after the unions gave the government an ultimatum to come up with a better deal and may have caused a few cracks in the coalition of unions, with some groups looking favourably on the offer, labour sources who asked not to be named said.
Unions in the country's largest labour umbrella group COSATU said they would reply on Tuesday to the new offer that is likely to swell the budget as the government tries to bring the deficit down from 6.7 percent of gross domestic product.
"We recognise the increase from the employer but we still feel it is a long way from our initial demands," said Fikile Majola of the NEHAWU union, which is affiliated with COSATU.
A separate state workers' union not affiliated with COSATU said it would take a week to respond to the offer.
The government on Thursday improved its offer to a coalition of unions representing about 1.3 million state workers who staged a one-day strike on Tuesday and then threatened a prolonged strike starting as early as Friday.
The government offered to increase the monthly housing allowance to 700 rand ($95) from a previous offer of 630 rand, but kept its wage rise offer at 7 percent. The housing allowance alone would be equal to about 1 percent of budget spending.
The unions are demanding an 8.6 percent pay rise, more than double the inflation rate, and 1,000 rand for housing.
The strike threat has put pressure on the ruling African National Congress, which has a long alliance with organised labour, to reach a deal to prevent what could be the biggest civil servants strike in three years.
The public service minister said the government would be forced to make cuts elsewhere, which could stoke anger among the poor at President Jacob Zuma, who has already faced protests for not doing enough to provide them with better schools, housing, security and utility services.
A mid-grade public sector employee now makes on average 8,800 rand a month in salary and benefits, above the national average wage of 6,383 rand, according to government figures.
Separately, he National Union of Mineworkers said its latest wage talks with Impala Platinum had collapsed and the union would consult its members next week on whether to embark on a strike. (Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Giles Elgood)