My retirement fund was made paid-up in 2020 following my retrenchment

My retirement fund was made paid-up in 2020 following my retrenchment. I requested to terminate the plan and withdraw the available funds, but was told this was not possible before retirement age. Unfortunately, I was never clearly informed of this restriction. Had I known, I would have reconsidered. I recently requested to withdraw the available funds from the savings component. It took a week and a half to receive the forms. After completing and returning them, I received no acknowledgement and had to phone to follow up, only to discover that the forms had not yet been reviewed. I am now awaiting payment. To add to my frustration, I received an *** stating that my plan would be made paid-up from August 2026, despite it already being paid-up since 2020. This was not what I requested. Overall, the slow, inconsistent and confusing communication has made this an extremely disappointing experience.