Cannot get assistance to cancel cellphone contract

My cellphone contract expired on the 16th June, before that we had been trying to get hold of MTN via the 808 number to cancel the contract and port the number to pay as you go. We could never get hold of anyone. We spoke to someone at the MTN store in Sandton who had advised us that there was a strike which is why we could not get through, so we needed to call again as they could not do this in store. We eventually got through to the call centre and were then advised that we cannot do this through the call centre, and that we need to email [Email Removed] We emailed this email address on the 22nd June for assistance, it has now been a week since emailing this address and we have had no response! I've called through to 808 again for assistance and have been advised that they are short staffed and that this cancellation and porting request can only be done through this email address. This contract has now been expired for 13 days and we have been trying to cancel it from long before the expiry date. I am totally shocked at this and cannot be expected to pay for this expired contract when we have tried countless times and channels to get this cancelled and ported!