Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. the surreptitious nudging of someone’s foot out of sight of anyone else, typically beneath a table; the contact is usu. a prelude to greater intimacy.

1916		S. Black Van Kalabos in Gray Three Plays (1984) 211: We’ve a fine little game in the Cape Colony that we call footchy footchy.
1930		N. Stevenson Farmers of Lekkerbat 94: The farmers and their guests did not play cards nor did they dance but they amused themselves in various hilarious ways. The dressmaker from the village recited, Marina Loubser sang, and they played ‘Blind Man’s Bluff,’ ‘Voetjie-Voetjie’, [etc.].
1948		T.J. Haarhoff Stranger at the Gate 180: The coquette plays the game known to the Afrikaner as ‘Voetjie-voetjie speel.’.
1971		Het Suid-Westem 1 Apr. n.p.: A boy and a girl had each kicked off one shoe and they were playing the delightful South African dinner-table game known as ‘voetjie-voetjie’ [DSAE].

2. in fig. uses, implying non-sexual flirtation.

1981		Nash & Charton An Empty Table?: Churches and the Ciskei Future 31: [...] disguised by smooth words and sophisticated political manoeuvres — including a clever policy of playing voetjie-voetjie with SACC-related churches.
1989		Frontline Aug. 13: CP count will be much higher than 75 if government’s voetjie-voetjie with ANC increases [DSAE].