Thambi Naidoo

Govindasamy Krishnasamy Thambi Naidoo (18751933) was a South African civil rights activist. He was an early collaborator of Mahatma Gandhi leading many protests in then South Africa against racial discrimination targeted at the Indian community.

He was a member and later a chairperson of the Tamil Benefit Society. Four generations of the Naidoo family starting with him devoted themselves to civil rights activism, including anti-apartheid protests, and were known as Congress Naidoos.

Early life Naidoo was born in Mauritius in 1875. He was the youngest son of a migrant family (of Telugu origin) from Mattur (in present- day Thanjavur district), in the former Madras Presidency of British India. His father was a fertilizer contractor. Naidoo migrated to Kimberley (then part of the Cape Colony), along with his brother and sister, when he was 14, in 1889. He moved to Johannesburg in 1892 where he became an agricultural produce wholesaler.

Activism

Early years (18891905) Naidoo's first foray into activism was in protest of the Law 3 of 1885, which imposed segregation on Indians in the Transvaal province, restricting their movements. He led a protest march to the Johannesburg Municipal Council, and was a part of the delegation to meet president Paul Kruger with a petition against the law. Naidoo collaborated with Gandhi, as the latter firmed up his political actions against Jan Smuts, the then South African prime minister.

He was elected the chairperson of the Johannesburg-based Tamil Benefit Society in 2012.

Personal life Naidoo was married to Veeramal (née Pillay), the sister of a close friend. The couple had seven children including Roy Naidoo. His wife and children all led various passive resistance movements protesting discrimination against the Indian community. His children grew up in the Tolstoy Farm, which Gandhi had opened for families of civil activists. Four of his sons including Roy were sent to India along with Gandhi, and studied under poet, Nobel laureate, and Indian independence activist Rabindranath Tagore.