Johannesburg - Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi was meeting unions on Monday evening, in a bid to end the strike by government employees.
The parties were then expected to meet at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council, department spokesperson Dumisani Nkwamba told Sapa.
"This process is expected to return results. People must go back to work after this meeting. The minister is determined to end the strike tonight."
The government did not reveal whether it intended tabling a new offer at the meeting.
"We just don't want to say anything at this stage," government spokesperson Themba Maseko said earlier.
"(Baloyi) has been consulting with union leaders with a view to finding a settlement," a statement read.
"Government is committed to finding a solution that is acceptable to all the parties. Such a solution will be tabled at the PSCBC for approval."
On Monday President Jacob Zuma instructed the parties to get back around the negotiating table to find a way of ending the strike.
"The president gave a mandate to the ministers to immediately go back to the negotiating table," said his spokesperson Zizi Kodwa.
"This follows a meeting the president held with ministers over the weekend, which assessed the strike by public servants and its impact to the country as a whole."
Zuma expressed concern at the effect the strike was having on poor people who relied on public services such as hospitals, and at its effect on goals set to improve the declining matric pass rate.
Sanity prevailed
The Independent Labour Caucus (ILC) hoped a "reasonable offer" would be made, its chairperson Chris Klopper said on Monday.
The ILC was "grateful" that sanity seemed to have prevailed "at long last".
Klopper said the ILC would meet with the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) at 17:00 and with the PSCBC at 18:00.
"The minister requested the meeting, so we are not sure exactly what the minister wants to tell us," he said.
Unions want an 8.6% increase and a R1 000 a month housing allowance. The government is offering a seven percent increase and a R700 allowance.
The 13-day strike has crippled many public hospitals and disrupted schooling.
In KwaZulu-Natal on Monday a stand-in nurse was kidnapped, allegedly by strikers who wanted other nurses to leave their posts at the KwaDukuza Hospital.