What has happened to MTN country wide?

On 30th Sept at 12pm my husbands phone was ****** at Elridge shopping centre, however MTN located in the same center, told us that they were unable to furnish us with an ITC number to black list the phone because country wide MTN was off line, that was now 4 days ago. As a result we have not been able to get a police case number or access the CCTV footage which we were told required a case number. Neither can we make an insurance claim without the ITC & case numbers. In the meantime, since 3pm on the 30th Sept, we traced the phone via an app, to an address in Daveyton, where the ***** is enjoying a new phone & my husbands 24 month contract. Not only have we lost a phone, airtime, data & possibly sensitive personal information, but my husband requires this phone for his business & MTN can't even do a sim swop on an old phone. Today the staff seem to have no idea themselves what is going on & cannot say when they expect their systems to be restored. Is there anyone in MTN who can enlighten us, because we intend claiming back any financial losses incurred since 12pm on Friday 30th Sept, as a result of not being able to black list this phone.