MTN - milking bereaved families.

My mother passed away in November. When my father tried to close her contract, he was told to hand back her phone or pay till the end of the contract. he continued to pay for the contact. My father passed away in May. He didn't upgrade his device twice - when he was due for an upgrade. MTN in Potchefstroom Mooirivier Mall informed us that both my parents' phones must be handed back before they will end the contracts. How can this be?! The persons responsible -who signed - for the contacts are not there anymore and the one phone haven't been upgraded? I tried to phone: "Sorry, visit a branch." I reside in Secunda, and the closes store is more than 100km away.