The Swazi government is using Swazi TV to instruct children to illegally go to school in KwaZulu-Natal.
Every day Swazi pupils living just across the border from Pongola run the gauntlet from the Zombodze Emuva area of Swaziland to school in South Africa, because it is cheaper, nearer and safer than going to their local school, Ndvungunye Primary, about 20km away.
But to do so, they have to first get past SANDF troops guarding the border or jump the border fence, and then walk for kilometres to get to Siyazenzela Primary in Pongola. And then there is the matter of getting home.
This has been going on for years - some suggest since the days of apartheid.
Despite the illegality of the situation, however, nobody seems willing to put a stop to it. In fact, the Swazi government used Swazi TV to instruct children to illegally go to school in South Africa.
The impoverished residents of Zombodze Emuva also cross the border to use the services of the Etshelejuba Hospital in Pongola, because they are free.
Every day the troops - often depending on their mood - either stop people crossing into South Africa, or turn a blind eye. They often cannot bring themselves to be heartless, especially with regard to sick people, one soldier said.
It costs E268 (R268) a year for a child to attend primary school in Swaziland, yet only R51 in South Africa. For a high school pupil it costs between E325 and E1&nbsop;000, but only R100 in South Africa. And in Swaziland matriculants and Grade 10s have to pay E1 087 for the exam fee and to obtain their Junior Certificates.
Titus Thwala, the MP for the Zombodze Emuva area, who instructed the children to go back to school in South Africa, denied that he had done so.
He also claimed that the Swazi government was improving Ndvungunye Primary and building other schools in the area, but when he was told that The Independent on Saturday had visited the area and not found this, he simply said: "You were really there and you saw what is happening, you must understand that we can only lobby the government to do these things."
Thwala said that the Swazi authorities were in negotiations with the South African Department of Home Affairs to build a border post in that area and find ways to issue the pupils with study permits.
"Now that you are here, I can show the Ministers of Education and Home Affairs that this issue is urgent and the world is watching."
Nkosana Sibuyi, spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs, was not aware of any negotiations with the Swazi government.
"They are welcome to propose anything but they must go through the correct channels," said Sibuyi.
Percy Simelane, spokesperson for the Swazi government, also could not provide satisfactory answers.
A "neighbourly agreement" between the two countries, that South Africa issue the pupils from the area with identity documents, expired in December last year.
They were informed that they should get passports and study permits to be admitted to schools in South Africa.
"If the study permits and passports are expensive for the children, then it means that it is expensive for them to go to school in South Africa and they must come to this side of the fence," said Simelane.
He said also that the Swazi government was providing Swazi pupils who could not afford school fees with books and stationery and that it was not fair "to compare a giant that is South Africa with a small economy like Swaziland".
At the border post, the troops were turning away people wanting to see a doctor. Nkosimphile Ndebele, 20, who said she had TB, was one of the unlucky ones. "The soldiers refused to let me in and I need to see a doctor," she said.
But Buyisile Hlengethwa, 30, decided to go and negotiate with the soldiers so that she could go to the hospital.
"This is our life. You either go and speak to them, or you die," she said. She succeeded, and they let her through.
One of the soldiers, who did not want to be named, said they were also human and they were faced with either watching people die in front of them, or letting them through.
"We have a job to do, but people are also dying that side (Swaziland) and they need urgent medical attention.
We are human as well and the sad part is that the people on the other side see themselves as belonging to South Africa," he said.