EFT takes 7 working days to "Clear"

My Cheque Account had a hold placed on it by the collections department for an outstanding amount due to Standard Bank. on the 30.11.2018 Funds were deposited into my Cheque account by SARS, The money was enough to clear the outstanding amount owed to Standard bank and place my account in credit. I went to the bank with the intent of closing the account and have the funds in credit paid out to me. The consultant as well as the team leader at the collections department then told me they are going to keep the hold in place for the next 7 working days as they have had instances of SARS payments being reversed and this apparently puts the bank at risk. This pathetic attempt of an explanation is nothing but a outright lie and makes little to no sense what so ever. All I want to do is, withdraw what is due to me, close the account, so I can stop accumulating fees on it, and disassociate with this pathetic excuse of a bank