After matriculating from Thembeka High School in the KaNyamazane township of Nelspruit in 1979, he studied law at the University of the North where he completed his B.Proc.
The parts that he permitted to be broadcast audiovisually were the opening and closing arguments, the testimony of consenting state witnesses, the judgement, and the sentencing if applicable.
[20] The trial was interrupted on the second day after it transpired that eNCA was showing a still photograph of a non-consenting state witness onscreen while broadcasting her audio testimony.
[24] A state witness was harassed telephonically after his cellphone number was read out in court during cross-examination by the defence team on the second day of the trial.
[25] In his Business Day column published on 13 March 2014, Caxton Professor of Journalism at Wits University Anton Harber stated that the trial represents a turning point for local newspapers unable to compete with "the speed and conversational nature of electronic media".