DA Gauteng premier candidate Solly Msimanga failed to mend the controversial damaged billboard yesterday bearing the names of people who died during the Marikana massacre as well as those of the victims of the Life Esidimeni tragedy.

Instead, the defiant party added amendments to its billboard situated in Johannesburg's inner city, with the message "ANC doesn’t care about South Africans".

The party drew widespread criticism after it launched the billboard proclaiming "The ANC is killing us". A day after the party put up the billboard, people purported to be relatives of some of the "ANC victims" mentioned by name, tore the it apart.

Yesterday, the DA said it would only be in a position to make a decision to take down the billboard or keep it standingonce it's met with  the families of the Life Esidimeni victims.  

"I think we need to hear the cries wherever they may be coming from… and be able to be responsive as well," Msimanga said on Tuesday.

However, the party's Mabine Seabe told SowetanLIVE that they met with two representatives of the victims of the Life Esidimeni tragedy to find an amicable solution.

"We met them today. There was no bad blood between us and the families… there is a support of the message itself. These are families that are still seeking compensation from the government itself," said Mabine.

He described the meeting as "cordial" between them and as a result, would have a follow up meeting with them today in a secret location in Johannesburg.

Earlier, Msimanga said: "We are talking to family members, we are not talking to a committee. We will still talk to those [families] that may have received compensation and say to them, 'how do we ensure that such tragedies don’t ever happen again' and how do we honour these people to ensure their names and faces are never forgotten," said Msimanga.

Asked if they weren't concerned about other disgruntled family members coming back to destroy the banner, DA Gauteng provincial leader John Moodey would not be drawn into the conversation.

"We don’t need to put security around any banner, so it will remain as it was. If they come again tomorrow, then they do it. It's not about the money that is being lost, it's about the message that is being driven," said Moodey.