'Don't just focus on economy'

"The consequences of focusing on economic growth only undermined and crippled many societies in the (African) continent," he told a social policy colloquium at the University of Fort Hare.

"We saw gains made in addressing child mortality being reversed, the quality of education systems undermined and the public health systems collapsing."

He said structural adjustment programmes - free market policies implemented by third world countries in exchange for loans from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank - had to be replaced with "home-grown" solutions.

Structural adjustment programmes had reversed many social development gains that had been achieved in the post-colonial period, he said.

Social and economic policies had to be integrated to help eradicate poverty, create jobs, achieve social integration as well as equality between women and men, ensure access to basic social services and mitigate the impact of economic shocks.

He said accurate data and empirical evidence were needed to make the most effective use of scarce resources.

"The department of social development is making significant strides in this area. We now have a clearer picture as to how we deal with... poverty through the provision of social grants."

Skweyiya cited research indicating that social grants and old age pensions were saving households from starvation.

"Evidence from research has helped us to dispel certain unfounded fears that social grants either engender dependency of the recipients, or lead to capricious lifestyles, where the youth find it worthwhile to fall pregnant in order to access a child support grant."