Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (S.Afr.) a child; a young man.

1946		Cape Times cited in Partridge DU (1950).
1962		A. La Guma Walk in the Night (1968) 15: Those are hardcase lighties.
1976		R.M. Kavanagh Survival in Kavanagh S. Afr. People’s Plays (1981) 158: Vusi, my laaitie, if you knew what it was like out there.
1977		C. Hope Ducktails in Gray Theatre Two (1981) 35: You’re a cheeky little lightie.
1982		P. Slabolepszy Sat. Night at the Palace (1985) 17: When I was a lightie, we used to come out to Boksburg Lake for a braai.
1985		B. Simon ‘Outers’ Born in the RSA (1997) 48: There’s this laaitie I read about who’s allergic to milk so its mother used to gooi it beer.
1990		R. Malan My Traitor’s Heart (1991) 146: I want the lighties (little ones) who sing with my son!
1990		J. Naidoo Coolie Location 25: It was the Location way for us lightees to associate ourselves with someone three to five years older.
2005		A. Lovejoy Acid Alex 51: We wanted to buy two rand-balle. The coloured cat refused, telling us we were laaities.
2010		Big Issue (SA) 15 Jan.-5 Feb. 15: The number of ‘laaities’ at their gigs [...] know all their lyrics.

2. (S.Afr. Und.) young men used for sexual purposes by older prisoners.

1974		Eng. Usage in Southern Afr. V:1 10: The general term laitie now gets specific application [DSAE].
1987		L. Beake Strollers 38: It was them what started it — the Spider men. Wanted us to be lighties, you know, join the gang [DSAE].
2008		A. Lovejoy ‘The Smell of Tears’ at www.acidalex.com 🌐 2: Hond had all the money, drugs, sweet looking laaities, terror and respect he could crave for.

3. (UK black) a mixed-race female.

2012		Skepta ‘We Begin Things’ 🎵 All the chicks in the hood wanna wife me / Black chicks, white chicks and the lighties.
2020		G. Krauze What They Was 97: Two little lighties in vest tops, swaying and laughing.