Understanding the 'Meet and Greet' trend among South African youth- malls beef up security

IOL News

18 hours ago

GrandWest Casino prohibits unauthorised meet and greets
Image: Supplied
What began as a way for influencers to connect with their fans has evolved into a new trend among South African youth — self-organised "meet and greets" or pop-up social gatherings, sometimes filled with violence, coordinated entirely through social media.
These informal events, often planned via Instagram stories, TikTok videos, and WhatsApp broadcasts, see hundreds — sometimes thousands — of teenagers and young adults descending on malls, parks, or other public venues to meet people they've connected with online.
Originally inspired by content creators who would schedule pre-approved, branded meet-and-greets with their followers, the trend has since shifted into a grassroots movement. Now, everyday users with a few thousand followers — or simply the right kind of digital influence — are pulling crowds simply by announcing a time and place.
For many young people, these events offer something offline that social media alone cannot: human connection.
'The idea is to finally put a face to the username,' said a 15-year-old, who attended a meet-up at a Cape Town mall in June.
'You chat to someone every day on TikTok or Insta, and then boom — you meet them in real life. That's exactly what it is.'
Organisers and attendees describe the meet-ups as spontaneous and often unregulated. No formal permissions are typically obtained for these gatherings, and the events are usually unstructured, relying on the crowd itself to bring energy and direction.
But not all gatherings go smoothly. Some meet-ups have resulted in altercations and even chaos. Recently malls and SAPS have been forced to respond to incidents where groups of teens clashed, either due to rival cliques, personal disputes, or the sheer size of the crowd overwhelming mall security.
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Canal Walk Shopping Centre Canal Walk confirmed a recent altercation at the shopping mall involving teens
Image: Supplied
In one such incident, a gathering organised at a Cape Town mall had to be broken up by private security after a fight broke out between a group of teenagers.
Vanessa Herbst, Marketing Manager at Canal Walk confirmed that Centre Management is aware of a gathering that took place at the shopping mall involving a group of unsupervised youth.
'While our security team with the assistance of the SAPS worked diligently to manage the situation, the nature of the gathering presented significant challenges.
'The centre does not condone disruptive or inappropriate behaviour of any kind. As a shared public space, we are committed to maintaining a safe, respectful and family-oriented environment for all our shoppers, staff, and tenants.'
Herbst said while incidents of this nature are rare, they highlight the importance of shared responsibility between centre management, parents and the wider community.
'We are engaging with relevant stakeholders and authorities to strengthen our approach in managing gatherings of this nature to prevent similar incidents in future.
'We remain committed to providing a secure and welcoming environment and we thank our community for their ongoing support.'
Donald Kau, head of communications at the V& Waterfront said they are concerned when these incidents take place as they place the participants as well as visitors to the Waterfront in danger and disrupt everyone from enjoying their outing to our neighbourhood.
'We manage a comprehensive security operation that monitors and anticipates increased activity across the property over weekends, public and school holidays, major public entertainment and sport events, brand activations etc, with our security officers reacting quickly to intervene when necessary.'
Kau said in the instance of youngsters caught participating in these fights, statements are taken by our security officials, written warnings are provided to the individuals in our custody, the parents and SAPS notified and where a police investigation is necessary.
The V&A Waterfront said they are working with SAPS
Image: Nico Smit/Unsplash
'We would supply the investigating officer with security footage, photographs and personal details of those involved as part of reporting of the incident.
'The spontaneous nature of these incidents has seen us increase the number of our security personnel as well as improve their capability to respond everywhere that gatherings take place. We will not hesitate to ban people who go out of their way to create chaos and mayhem and harm others from visiting our neighbourhood.'
Wendy Louw, Digital Marketing Manager at Somerset Mall also confirmed an increase in security.
"Given that the schools are on holiday, we expect to experience a higher volume of teenagers in the mall. All minors should be accompanied by a parent or guardian when visiting the mall, in line with our House Rules, to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for all.
"In light of the recent misconduct of minors in malls around Cape Town, we wish to confirm that Somerset Mall increased security at our events. We also continue to work closely with SAPS and security teams from the Helderberg area.
"If shoppers wish to organise any public gathering, including meet-ups and meet-and-greets, they are required to contact our Centre Management office to gain written permission."
In the meantime GrandWest Casino has prohibited such gatherings without prior approval.