Vodacom - Unilateral number deletion

Vodacom unilaterally deleted my number. Reason saying it was inactive for a certain period. I had that number for over 20yrs and had inactive periods before. They refuse to reinstate my number. They are technically incapable of fishing that number out of the system and assigning it back to me. I am looking forward to being a MTN customer for the next 20yrs or so. Goodbye Vodacom.