Unblock my ABSA account from Germany

My online banking has been blocked. I am based in Germany and was told by the agent at ABSA customer services in South Africa that there is no possibility of having this unblocked unless I turned up at the branch personally. I LIVE IN GERMANY! The other alternative would be to go to the SA embassy who apparently have a POA that I can sign and ask them to send to ABSA whilst I watched. Guess what? The embassy staff laughed at me when I called them! I am spitting mad right now. I've been with ABSA for almost years and cannot believe that they do not have measures in place to verify my ID electronically in order to unblock my account. I was there last week, met with the local branch staff - they know who I am but are unable to assist!!!!!