Blacklisting process nightmare

On the 15th of March 2019 I lost my phone.

I did a sim swap the morning of the 16th. After which I reported the lost phone to the police, after 2 hours in a queue I was told that I needed an ITC number to report the lost handset. I could come back after I have this number.

I proceeded to go to my local Cell C branch and was told that they're closing the store due to Loadshedding but that I could phone 140 from my temporary handset and they would be able to help me.

I phoned them and they informed me that the SIM swap was not yet active and that they couldn't help me and that I should phone back in 2-4 hours.

I phoned back after 2-4 hours, they said that there's an issue and they can't blacklist the phone and that I had to go do the blacklisting in store.

I went back to the local CellC store that was now closed. I went to Mall of Africa and was told that they have power but no network. I went to Woodmead and was told they had power but no internet. I filled in a form for manual blacklisting and that was it.

So I basically wasted my whole Saturday trying to get a phone blacklisted.

I went back to my local CellC branch on Sunday the 17th, this time they were online. I filled in another form and they sent it through, the manager told me he would phone me when they got the ITC number.

When I phoned them today, I was told that it would take another 48 hours to provide me with an ITC number!!!!!!

As long as I don't have this number I can't go to the police. Since when does it take 5days to get a phone blacklisted!!!!