Sapref refinery chief Richard Parkes has been invited to move his family into Wentworth, Durban, and live among the people whose neighbourhood was polluted with nearly a million litres of Sapref petrol.
So far, five families have been advised by Sapref and the city health department to leave their homes as a health precaution because of high levels of airborne benzene.
Benzene, a constituent of petrol, can cause leukaemia (blood cancer) if people are exposed to it at relatively low levels over a prolonged period.
Addressing a public meeting at Dirkie Uys High School on Tuesday night, Parkes apologised to residents and expressed his "bitter disappointment" over the company's petrol pipeline failure.
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He also admitted that the company had made a mistake in earlier estimates on the amount of petrol which leaked from a rust hole in one of its pipelines more than three months ago.
Sapref now believes that about 950 000 litres of petrol leaked from the pipe, considerably more than the initial estimate of 500 000 to 750 000 litres.
"This may sound hollow to you in the light of what has happened, but I can't tell you just how much I regret having to stand here in front of you... because we really do care about our impacts on the environment and community."
But Dean Bezuidenhout, a father of three young children living near the leak, said fumes were still coming out of a stormwater drain next to his front door.
He said his whole family had moved into a single room near the back of the house to escape overnight exposure to petrol fumes in their front bedroom, adding that his wife had developed headaches and nausea in recent weeks, while the asthma and eczema of his six-year-old son had worsened.
"Would you come and live here with your children?" asked Bezuidenhout.
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