Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(S.Afr.) old; esp. as used in combs. ou china/ou maat/ou pellie, old mate, old pal.

1834		‘Kaatje Kekkelbek or Life Among the Hottentots’ in D.C.F. Moodie (1888) II 555: Daar was Zaartje Zeekoegat, en ik, / En ouw Dirk Donderwetter, / Klaas Klauterberg, en Diedrick Dick, / All sent to Tronk together.
1929		N. Devitt Legal Atmospherics 167: Ya, ou bok [...] Yes, old goat.
1960		C. Hooper Brief Authority 225: Hell, ou maat, tonight I’m getting solid drunk.
1962		A. La Guma Walk in the Night (1968) 19: Ou Cully didn’t say a word. [Ibid.] 106: Somebody chopped my brother, Nails, in the back. [...] Only thing poor ou Nails knew about the juba he had something picked out, tattooed on his chest, man.
1977		(con. 1930s) G. Butler Karoo Morning 81: The oubaas had told him No.
1977		F. Dike First South African 30: Ou Solly’s ’n alright laitie.
1985		B. Simon ‘Outers’ Born in the RSA (1997) 43: Here he comes now with that bladdy ou whore – slet.
1990		P. Hotz Muzukuru 2: Me and my buddy, ou Headlights.