Unclaimed pension that its exhausted

I have an uncle who used to work at imperial truck system. So his contract ended in 1998 he never claim his pensions so he asked me to claim it on his behalf. I contacted Old Mutual unclaimed benefits the consultant told me the matter was tranfered to CEDAR so in order for him to claim it he needs to contact Cedar. And the lady gave me the contact then I started to make calls. And then I was refereed to the guy by the name of Robert Magagula who told me that yes they received my uncle's money it was R1900 but now because of vat and their fee for keeping the money its now exhausted which means the is no money. So I asked him to email me the document he was looking at, he told me he is not dealing with unclaimed benefits he refereed me to the lady by the name of Rene I don't remember her surname. She asked for my uncle's id number gave it to her then she said she is not picking up anything then she asked for his surname and initials then she said to me can she call me back because the is something that she doesn't understand. She did call after few minutes and told me the same story Robert told but now to her the money is R1700 which is exhausted due to their fees for keeping the money I then ask her to email me the document she said she can't because it's a system they can't email it to me the only thing they can email me is a letter confirming that the money is exhausted. CAN SOMEONE GIVE CLARITY ON THE MATTER BECAUSE I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW CAN A PERSON'S PENSION BE EXHAUSTED WHERE'S HE NEVER CLAIM IT AND THE COMPANY WAS DEDUCT PENSION MONEY ON HIS SALARY EVERY MONTH?????