South Africans are divided over the decision by the government to deploy the army to xenophobia hot spots. One argument says it is too late and over the top to bring the army into areas like Alexandra and parts of KwaZulu-Natal when other security measures could be used to deal with the situation.Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula yesterday said the state was reclaiming its authority. She warned those behind the xenophobic attacks that the army would not treat them with kid gloves."They do not know how to control the crowd and do not use teargas," she said.What this tells us is that the state is not in touch with what is happening on the ground and can only deal with the situation through brute force, just like the apartheid state.The army should be the last resort in dealing with the violence that is driven by economic desperation.Some argue the army will bring normality to the various hot spots. They argue that the army will be decisive.But what is not being addressed is the permanent solution to the anger that drives these attacks.There is danger in allowing the state to easily call the army into our neighbourhoods. What we dread is the government using the same argument in future to deal with violent service-delivery protests.Outside pressure for Pretoria to be seen to be protecting foreigners should not force authorities into kneejerk reactions. The police can effectively handle the situation. There are other tools such as curfews and states of emergency we can use to restore stability.The government has said a few individuals are behind the xenophobic violence. Why bring in the army to deal with a few troublemakers?The minister of defence has admitted that the army is ill-equipped to handle protests. If we had invested in effective intelligence gathering, we would not be hauling in the big guns...