Taxed my funds after retrenchment

Following my retrenchment, I was advised by Sanlam that I can transfer my funds to the preservation fund and if I needed to take it out this year and it would not be taxed. I contacted the person managing my portfolio , as I wanted to take the money out and I asked her if I would be taxed and she said no because I was retrenched and my funds are way below 500K. When everything was finalized , I saw that SARS taxed both my provident and pension fund at 18% and they said it’s because sanlam did not choose involuntary termination but they chose withdrawal. I would like my money back from sanlam and SARS and I really need it.