Govindasamy Krishnasamy Thambi Naidoo (18751933) was a South African civil rights activist. He was an early collaborator of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

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

Tamilian The Tamils ( ), also known by their endonym Tamilar, are a Dravidian ethnic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Tamil language is one of the longest- ...

migrant family (of

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

origin) from Mattur (in present- day

Thanjavur district Thanjavur District is one of the Districts of Tamil Nadu, 38 districts of the States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. Its headquarters is Thanjavur (Tanjore) . The district is located in the delta of the Cauv ...

), in the former

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. His father was a fertilizer contractor. Naidoo migrated to

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

(then part of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

), along with his brother and sister, when he was 14, in 1889. He moved to

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

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 Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

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 Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (; 10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904), better known as Paul Kruger, was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South Africa, and State Preside ...

with a petition against the law. Naidoo was one of the founding members of the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC) in 1893, with H. O. Ally. The establishment was a precursor to the

Natal Indian Congress The Natal Indian Congress (NIC) was a political organisation established in 1894 to fight discrimination against Indians in the Natal Colony, and later the Natal Province, of South Africa. Founded by Mahatma Gandhi, it later served an importan ...

which Gandhi founded in 1894.

Collaboration with Gandhi (19061913)

From 1906 to 1913, he collaborated with Gandhi in the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n Indian communities as they struggled against pre-

Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

racial repression by the local white and the colonial

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

authorities in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

. Naidoo was an executive member of the

Transvaal British Indian Association The Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC) was a political organisation established in 1903 to fight discrimination against Indians in the Transvaal Colony, and later the Transvaal Province, of South Africa. Founded in 1903 as the Transvaal British In ...

of which Gandhi was the secretary. He was known as one Gandhi's top lieutenants in the country. Naidoo collaborated with Gandhi, as the latter firmed up his political actions against

Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (baptismal name Jan Christiaan Smuts, 24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as P ...

, the then South African prime minister. In 1907, he participated in the picketing at the registration offices, and was among the first to be arrested. Later that year, he boycotted the mandatory registration and was forced outside of Transvaal, and was arrested in January of 1908 along with Gandhi. Thambi was also by Gandhi's side when Gandhi organized his

Satyagraha Satyāgraha (from ; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone who practises satyagraha is ...

movement in Transvaal, and later during the strike of 1913 in protest against the £3 tax on

indenture An indenture is a legal contract that reflects an agreement between two parties. Although the term is most familiarly used to refer to a labor contract between an employer and a laborer with an indentured servant status, historically indentures we ...

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

After Gandhi's return to India (19141933)

Naidoo continued to lead the Indian community in South Africa after Gandhi's return to India in 1914. He was elected as the president of the TIC in 1932. He led protests against some of the discriminatory legislations of the period including the Transvaal Asiatic Land Tenure Act and the Licences (Control) Ordinance. He voiced his dissent against the

South African Indian Congress The South African Indian Congress (SAIC) was an umbrella body founded in 1921 to coordinate between political organisations representing South African Indians, Indians in the various provinces of South Africa. Its members were the Natal Indian ...

deciding to participate in the Colonisation Enquiry Committee, an initiative that the ruling government had set up to find ways for the Indian community to emigrate from South Africa into countries like Borneo. In 1933, he led the movement to remove

untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...

at the Melrose Hindu Temple.

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 lead various

passive resistance Nonviolent resistance, or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, constr ...

movements protesting discrimination against the Indian community. His children grew up in the

Tolstoy Farm Tolstoy Farm was an ashram initiated and organised by Mohandas Gandhi during his South African movement. At its creation in 1910 the ashram served as the headquarters of the campaign of satyagraha against discrimination against Indians in Trans ...

, 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 The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

, and Indian independence activist

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

. They continued to remain associated with anti-apartheid movements from within South Africa and outside in exile. The family, four generations starting with Naidoo, were known as ''Congress Naidoos''. Naidoo had no formal education but spoke English, Tamil, Telugu, Hindustani, Creole, and Zulu. Naidoo died on October 31, 1933, in

. An exhibition detailing Naidoo's family's activism titled ''Resistance in their Blood'':''The Naidoo-Pillay Family: Pacifists, Protestors, Prisoners, Patriots,'' was part of the

Apartheid Museum The Apartheid Museum is a museum illustrating apartheid and the 20th-century history of South Africa. The museum, part of the Gold Reef City complex in Johannesburg, was opened in November 2001. At least five times a year, events are held at t ...

in Johannesburg.

Book(s)

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naidoo, Thambi South African people of Tamil descent South African politicians of Indian descent 1875 births 1933 deaths British Mauritius people Immigrants to the Cape Colony Naidoo family South African civil rights activists Mauritian people of Tamil descent Mauritian people of Telugu descent South African people of Telugu descent Tamil people of Telugu descent