My number recycled by Vodacom without my knowledge

I have been using my Vodacom number ********** 700 for the past 18 years and in July 2018 i left the country to work outside of SA the duration of the trip was suppose to be 3 months however i was forced to stay longer then 3 months because of business requirements and only came back on the 23/12/2018 i did not activate international roaming on the number so the number was not working outside of SA. on the 05/01/2019 without any notice from Vodacom either by sending an sms on the very number or send some sort of communication because they have all the information when we RICA our sim cards i discovered through my mom seeing a user on whatsap using the same number that she knew i didnt activate whatsap on . Vodacom they recycled my number to another user . i had registered the number with all the creditors and bank notifications which means the other user was getting all my withdrawals notifications. I have been going through hell changing the number and other institutions are unable to do so over the phone ill need to go to the branches. Vodacom needs to sort this out and give me my number back . The number was not suppose to be recycled in a period of 6 months only . I need my number back and they can sort out the other user to me it doesnt matter if it goes against the rules it does not matter , this mess was created by them and they need to clean it up