Refund that they cant give

Good Day. We were not able to collect our car on Monday due to not flying due to the presidential address for Covid 19. I was told that i can not get a refund because i did not phone from the budget or car rental desk and cancel. This is impossible to expect me to be able to do that as i did not make it to Cape Town because of the national presidential address, thus meaning we did not go on the plane and our conference was canceled due to not allowing groups of people to gather. Airline and accommodations are all refunding people yet you guys don't care about working together with the government to protect peoples interest. I phoned budget in cape town and said they can not refund the money, because i booked through rentalcar. First of all you can see did i use the car or not, second the money is coming through rental cars to you, why cant you give me a voucher or part of my money back