Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a fellow, a chap; also as a term of address (cf. okie n.).

1970		informant in DNZE (1998).
1977		C. Hope Ducktails in Gray Theatre Two (1981) 46: George with all his okes.
1982		P. Slabolepszy Sat. Night at the Palace (1985) 11: These okes know nothing from nothing.
1984		P. Slabolepszy ‘Under the Oaks’ in Mooi Street (1994) 10: You blokes are the okes I support when we not playing you okes.
1989		B. Simon ‘Score Me the Ages’ Born in the RSA (1997) 135: lennie: There’s a ou for you, take him round the block, you show him your cock, he’ll give you ten bucks chop-chop. boykie: Ten bucks for that hey! Jussis, you know all these okes hey.
1990		R. Malan My Traitor’s Heart (1991) 73: Such an oke could use a little extra on the side.
1996		CyberBraai Lex. at www.matriots.com 🌐 Oke: A ‘guy’ or ‘chap’ or ‘bloke’. If you quite like someone you can say: ‘Ag, he is an OK oke’. Instead of ‘oke’ you can also say ‘ou’ which is pronounced ‘Oh.’.
2005		A. Lovejoy Acid Alex xiv: All you okes’ moral and multifaceted support definitely helped me pull it off. [Ibid.] 90: There was a really dumb British oke named Keebol and another okie named Titch.
2008		IOL News (Western Cape) 4 Mar. 🌐 Troy’s transformation from a feared gangster, who has an ‘understanding’ with the Lebs and the Blackokes to a ‘moffie’ wearing a sari and cooking Indian cuisine.