PAIA Manual: MeetYourGuide (Pty) Ltd
Version: paia-2026-10-15 · Contact details updated 17 October 2026 (meetyourmate.co.za) · Date of compilation: 15 October 2026 · Date of revision: 15 October 2026
Prepared in terms of section 51 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (as amended), for MeetYourGuide (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2026/426905/07, trading as Meet Your Mate.
1. Acronyms and abbreviations
| Term | Meaning |
| Company | MeetYourGuide (Pty) Ltd, trading as Meet Your Mate |
| DIO | Deputy Information Officer |
| IO | Information Officer |
| PAIA | Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000, as amended |
| POPIA | Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 |
| Regulator | Information Regulator |
| Republic | Republic of South Africa |
2. Purpose of this manual
This manual helps members of the public to:
- see which categories of the Company's records are available without a formal request;
- understand how to request access to a record, and which subjects and categories of records the Company holds;
- know which records are available under other legislation;
- contact the Information Officer;
- find the Regulator's Guide on how to use PAIA;
- understand how the Company processes personal information: its purposes, the categories of data subjects and information, the recipients, planned transfers outside the Republic, and its security measures.
3. Key contact details for access to information
3.1 Information Officer
| Name | Garry Buckland, Director |
| Registration with the Information Regulator | Registration reference 2026-069491 |
| Telephone | +27 81 725 8817 |
| support@meetyourmate.co.za |
3.2 Deputy Information Officer: none has been designated at present.
3.3 Access to information, general contact: support@meetyourmate.co.za
3.4 Head office
| Physical address | 4 La Montagne Estate, Somerset West, Cape Town, 7130, South Africa |
| Postal address | 4 La Montagne Estate, Somerset West, Cape Town, 7130, South Africa |
| Telephone | +27 81 725 8817 |
| support@meetyourmate.co.za | |
| Website | https://meetyourmate.co.za |
4. The Guide on how to use PAIA
The Regulator has, under section 10(1) of PAIA, updated and made available the revised Guide on how to use PAIA (the Guide). It is in an easily understandable form, for anyone who wishes to exercise a right under PAIA or POPIA. The Guide is available in each of the official languages and in braille.
The Guide describes:
- the objects of PAIA and POPIA;
- the contact details of Information Officers and Deputy Information Officers;
- how to request access to a record of a public body (section 11) and of a private body (section 50);
- the assistance available from Information Officers and from the Regulator;
- the remedies available, including complaints to the Regulator and applications to court;
- the duty to compile manuals (sections 14 and 51) and how to obtain them;
- the voluntary disclosure of categories of records (sections 15 and 52);
- the notices on fees (sections 22 and 54);
- the regulations made under section 92.
How to get the Guide:
- from the Regulator's website, https://inforegulator.org.za;
- on request to the Company's Information Officer;
- for inspection at the Company's head office during normal business hours, by appointment, where copies are available in English and Afrikaans.
5. Records available without a request
| Category of records | Types of record | On the website | On request |
| Legal and supplier information | Legal / Supplier Information page | Yes (https://meetyourmate.co.za/legal) | Yes |
| Member terms and privacy information | Early Access Terms; Privacy Notice | Yes (https://meetyourmate.co.za/terms and /privacy) | Yes |
| This PAIA manual | This document | Yes (https://meetyourmate.co.za/paia) | Yes |
6. Records available under other legislation
| Category of records | Applicable legislation |
| Memorandum of Incorporation; registers of directors and shareholders | Companies Act 71 of 2008 |
| PAIA manual | Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 |
| Records of personal-information processing; Information Officer details | Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 |
| Tax records | Income Tax Act 58 of 1962; Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011 |
| Supplier disclosures and electronic transaction records | Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 |
| Consumer agreement records | Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 |
7. Subjects on which the Company holds records
| Subject | Categories of records |
| Company administration | Incorporation documents, statutory registers, resolutions, accounting, tax and bank records |
| Suppliers and operators | Agreements and terms with service providers; invoices |
| Members of Meet Your Mate | Account and sign-in records; profiles and photos; questionnaire answers and answer history; preferences; compatibility estimates; introductions and responses; messages; meeting and outcome answers; notifications and email records; referrals; consent records |
| Safety and moderation | Blocks, reports, moderation decisions and legal holds, the administrative audit log, safety re-entry records |
| Research | Coded (pseudonymised) research datasets, held as encrypted packages; aggregate statistics |
| Original research pilot | Pilot questionnaire answers, scores, accuracy feedback and pilot consent records |
| Retention and deletion | Encrypted deletion records (internal account identifiers and deletion time only, kept 45 days); anonymous deletion totals |
| Privacy and compliance | Privacy Notice and consent wording versions; processing register; risk assessment; request and incident records |
8. Processing of personal information
8.1 Purposes. The Company processes personal information to:
- provide Meet Your Mate, a compatibility-first introduction service for Romantic and Friendship introductions: accounts, profiles, compatibility estimation, introductions and messaging;
- carry out research testing its compatibility approach, with consent;
- keep members safe and moderate the service;
- administer referrals and Founding Credits;
- send operational emails;
- maintain security, backups and disaster recovery;
- meet its legal obligations.
8.2 Categories of data subjects and information
| Data subjects | Personal information that may be processed |
| Members (aged 18 or older) | Email address and sign-in records. First name, date of birth, gender and approximate area. The kinds of introduction wanted. Questionnaire answers, answer history and scores. Profile, prompts, interests and photos. Preferences. Introductions, responses and optional reasons. Messages. Meeting and outcome answers. Notifications. Referrals and attribution. Consent records. Special personal information, for Romantic introductions only and with explicit consent: religion or beliefs, the importance of political and social alignment, and the gender(s) someone would date (which may reveal sexual orientation). |
| Original research-pilot participants | Pilot questionnaire answers, scores, accuracy feedback and pilot consent records |
| People who report, or are reported | Report content, category and status; messages included in a report; moderation decisions |
| Members removed for serious safety reasons | A secret-keyed fingerprint of the email address (not the address itself), a broad safety category and dates, kept for 24 months |
| Suppliers | Business contact details and contract records |
8.3 Recipients
| Category of personal information | Recipients |
| Member information held by the service | Operators processing on the Company's behalf under written terms: Supabase (database, authentication, photo storage) and Netlify (hosting, server functions, deletion-record storage) |
| Email addresses and email content | Resend (transactional email) |
| Encrypted backups and encrypted research packages (encrypted before upload) | Dropbox (storage of encrypted files only) |
| A member's introduction profile | The other member in that introduction only, as described in the Privacy Notice |
| Information required by law, or in a serious safety emergency | Law enforcement, courts or regulators, where legally required or permitted |
The Company does not sell personal information or use it for advertising.
8.4 Planned transfers outside the Republic
| Location | Information processed there |
| Ireland (EU) | The database, authentication and private photo storage (Supabase) |
| Germany (EU) | Encrypted deletion records (Netlify) |
| United States of America | Website hosting and server processing, through which member information passes (Netlify); transactional email (Resend) |
| Location chosen by the storage provider (primarily the United States of America) | Encrypted backups and encrypted research packages only (Dropbox) |
8.5 General description of security measures
- Database access rules that limit each member to their own information.
- Administrative access limited to authorised administrators, with sensitive administrative actions logged.
- Sign-in by emailed one-time links, with no passwords stored.
- Private photos, shown only through short-lived links after review.
- HTTPS everywhere.
- Encrypted backups and encrypted research packages, with the keys kept separately.
- A separate, encrypted deletion safeguard, so that restoring a backup cannot bring a deleted account back.
- Automatic retention schedules.
- Separate production and test environments.
- A documented security-incident procedure.
9. How to request access to a record
9.1 The form. Use Form 2 (Request for Access to Record, regulation 7 of the PAIA Regulations, 2021). Send it to the Information Officer at support@meetyourmate.co.za, or to the head office address above.
9.2 What to include. Attach proof of your identity. If you are asking on someone else's behalf, attach proof of your authority to do so.
9.3 When access is given. Under section 50 of PAIA, a requester must be given access to a record of a private body if all of these apply:
- the record is required for the exercise or protection of any rights;
- the requester complies with PAIA's procedural requirements;
- no ground for refusal in PAIA applies.
9.4 Fees. The fees prescribed for private bodies apply, as published by the Regulator (https://inforegulator.org.za). At the date of this manual:
- a request fee of R140, which is not payable by someone requesting their own personal information;
- R2 per A4 page for copies;
- search and preparation time beyond the first hour, up to the prescribed maximum;
- a deposit of one third of the estimated access fee where the search will take more than six hours;
- postage at actual cost.
The Information Officer will tell you of any fee before your request is processed.
9.5 Your own information. Members can see and correct most of their own information directly in the app. Under POPIA, you may also ask the Company what personal information it holds about you, at support@meetyourmate.co.za.
9.6 Complaints. If you are dissatisfied with a decision, you may complain to the Information Regulator (https://inforegulator.org.za) or apply to court, as described in the Guide.
10. Availability of this manual
This manual is available:
- on the website, at https://meetyourmate.co.za/paia;
- at the head office, for inspection during normal business hours, by appointment;
- to anyone on request, on payment of the prescribed fee for a copy (R2 per A4 page);
- to the Information Regulator on request.
This manual is available in English.
11. Updating this manual
The head of the Company will update this manual regularly, and whenever its processing, service providers or contact details change.
Issued by Garry Buckland, Director and Information Officer, MeetYourGuide (Pty) Ltd, on 15 October 2026.