Green’s Dictionary of Slang

chaya n.

[var. on amakhaya, lit. people from home, thus = homeboy n. (7)]

(S.Afr. gang) a gang girl.

[SA]L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 75: They employed an argot which was peculiarly their own [...] ‘a chaya’ meant a tart or a moll who was ever ready for sex, robbery, or murder.