Impossible to do a SIM swap

My phone was ****** on Christmas Day. I went and bought a sim thad it RICA'd & the SIM didn't work. I ended up going back to the store & was told there was a problem with the MTN network I should wait 24hours & it should be working and I'd be able to do a sim swap. I waited dialled 173 & all outgoing calls were barred. I then tried the self-service which kept timing out before I'd completed the survey. So I tried several times hoping itd work & by the time I finished it told me I'd exceeded my limit & should call 173 which I couldn't cause outgoing calls were barred. So I went to pep & bought another SIM. As soon as I called - outgoing calls were barred & the self-help told me to call 173. I got another sim at the Bayside MTN store called 173 & they said that I cannot do the sim swap cause it shows that a sim swap is being processed I must switch off the phone & the following evening 7pm I'd have my number back. I waited nothing happened. I called 173 & they said it failed due to the phone being switched off (but the previous consultant told me to switch it off). At this rate I might as well port my number to another network. I cannot sit with a phone unable to use my number that I