CAPE TOWN - Author Don Pinnock believes the Group Areas Act played a major role in the current violence on the Cape Flats.

He says removing coloured people from Cape Town's inner cities broke up families and gave rise to unemployment.

Pinnock says bringing in the army will not change the conditions that helped create gang culture.

In an essay, Pinnock stated, "Given the framework within which removals under the Group Areas Act took place in Cape Town, a social disaster was inevitable.

"As the familiar social landmarks in the closely grained working-class communities of the old city were ripped up, a whole culture began to disintegrate."

The army was deployed in the Western Cape in July to monitor crime and gangsterism.

The military is expected to be there for three months.