Govindasamy Krishnan was born in Escourt, Natal in 1901 and educated at Pretoria and S.M.H. High School, Shiyali, Tanjore. He left school in response to Mahatma Ghandi’s call of non-Co-operation movement and did propaganda work and engaged in business. He was also a teacher at the Tamil school in Pretoria. Amongst many other things he was also the Scout Master of the Pretoria Indian Boys Scouts and awarded the Tamil Vedic Young Men’s Association gold medal for invaluable service.
He was also the assistant secretary of the Shiyali Taluk Congress in 1921; delegate to All-India National Congress at Ahmedabad; delegate to the Madras Provincial Conferences at Tanjore and Trichy district at Kumba-Koonam, Tanjore, Manaargudi and Negapatam and returned to South Africa in 1926 where he was elected Secretary of the Tamil Mahajana Sastri Reception Committee. In 1960 his address was 324 Asiatic Bazaar, Pretoria, Transvaal
