Overstaying in South Africa [closed]

I am a US citizen, South African born. I went in July to spend time with my mom who was sickly. I came back to the States beginning of Aug only to turn back around 2 weeks later as my mom was hospitalized and upon landing back in South Africa, she passed away. As per our religious custom, we were unable to do anything for a month. After that period, I started working on my moms estate and only went back to the US middle of Oct. Just last week, beginning of a new year, I had to go back to finalize everything and was told I am not allowed to enter because I overstayed on my last visit. I explained to Home Affairs at the airport the reason, and they made their mind up sending me back to the States. It's ridiculous that they would not even let me prove myself and I understand they probably hear this BS all the time. I even told them I will show my moms death certificate but they weren't listening to me. Upon arriving back, I immediately set out to appeal this. So my question is, how long does an appeal take to process and is there anything else I can do so I can go back to SA?