Card swiped and merchant refunded the money back but its still on hold

My brother swiped his business card on the 27th of March and then cancelled the transaction after 4 days and the lodge that he booked accommodation at refunded the money back on the and it reflect on the business account statement on the 10th of April but till today the money is still on hold and its almost a month now waiting for the money to be released. He logged a claim with fnb commercial ***** and was given reference number ***, but nothing is happening. Follow-ups have been done several times, but nothing is happening only excuses that head office needs to deal with the query which is not even responding to emails sent. Kindly release the funds we need to pay accommodation and school fees for the kids.