MTN *****ulently made contract from a long standing cell number and inconvenienced elderly client

My mother RICAd her cell number and has owned her number for over 15years as pay as you go- I noticed she couldn’t load data or airtime and she had a large balance - when I called MTN yesterday they passed me to 3 different departments and they confirmed the number had been changed to contract on 24 September 2024 - when She disputed this they quote rudely told me my elderly mother has to be inconvenienced by their botch and go get a SAPS Affadavit/ this is unacceptable and I wish to escalate this to the Telecoms Ombudsman and seek reformative results and punitive damages