Two SA National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers accused of having a sexual relationship while on peace-keeping duty in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will soon learn their fate.

After hearing closing arguments in the sensational sex case of Major Ria Viviers and Corporal Neil Sanna, the Thaba Tshwane military court judge announced she would deliver her verdict on Thursday.

In his closing arguments, Vivier's legal representative, Joe Msiza, maintained white soldiers serving in the DRC had problems with the fact that Viviers, a white woman, had an affair with Sanna, a black man.

Charges were brought against them, he said, because it was a white/black affair.

Acting in their personal capacities, five or six white men "misused" military rules by saying to Viviers "We will grind you".

The white men were all friends and they "cliqued together". Their motive was to destroy her career, he said.

Msiza also pointed out that the commander of the camp, Colonel Ashton Sibango, had testified he did not find anything wrong with the relationship because it did not affect discipline and morale in the camp.

Adultery, Msiza pointed out, was not an offence in any South African legislation or code.

The prosecutor, Major Elke Pakendorf, contended the case against the major concerned a far graver spectrum of offences against military discipline than mere adultery. Vivier, she said, was a senior officer and a highly trained intelligence officer, not a "silly girl".

Due to her rank and appoint ment, she carried far greater responsibility and accountability for her actions than her lover.

Their relationship led to "severe indiscipline"on the part of Sanna.

Military discipline dictated the spectrum of charges against the two. Fraternisation and indiscriminate relationships must be "nipped in the bud", she said.

Pakendorf contended the soldiers who testified against the major were "credible witnesses".

It was insufficient to state they were racist because they were white, or they lied because they were racists, she said.

The major faces a sentence of cashiering if she is found guilty.

Cashiering will deprive the major of her rank and demote her to a troop.

Regimental procedures specify how cashiering takes place, according to SANDF spokesperson, Colonel John Rolt.

In short, he says, the person is paraded in an empty square, where all rank and unit insignia are physically stripped from his/her uniform. The person is then "ejected from the unit lines".

With acknowledgements to Mariechen Waldner and the City Press.