Broken line and cable

My father is 80 years old and has been a Telkom customer for the past 30 years using a land line phone. In the recent past Telkom has not been very kind to my father who is a pensioner and pays his account diligently. His land line phone is his only means to communicate to the outside and fulfill his other commitments. His land line in the recently past has been interrupted especially in rainy seasons and Telkom gives him a standard response each time he registers a complaint, that its the problem with the underground cables. My father's landline has not been working now for the last 4 months and every time he is given a reference number and nothing happens to ease his pain. He cannot live without a landline and is too old to use a cell phone which is more troublesome to him and costly. Please help as he says he has an emotional attachment to his landline and it is also his life line when he needs to reach me as he stays alone and it is imperative that we are in constant communication. As recent as today I went to Telkom to find out what the problem is and was told to talk to their call centre, which was a waste of time as they told that the line was fixed but out telephone has no dialing tone and the was a suggestion that I buy a new telephone. Further than that was told that if they reopen the call log my father will be charged a fee for an unnecessary call out of their technician. Safe to say I left the conversation even more aggrieved than my father by Telkom.

Regards