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  • People are drawn to Mpumalanga by the magnificent scenery, by the fauna and flora, and by the variety of outdoor activities and things to do.

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Located in the south-eastern corner of Mpumalanga and borders onto Swaziland in the east and KwaZulu-Natal in the south. Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Local Municipality forms the eastern boundary and Msukaligwa Local Municipality is situated north.  It is made up of nineteen (19) wards covering 4 868 square kilometers central from Maputo, Swaziland, Durban, Nelspruit, Johannesburg and Pretoria (within ±300km radius).
Mpumalanga is considered to be one of the most geographically diverse and unbelievably beautiful places in South Africa. People are drawn to Mpumalanga by the magnificent scenery, by the fauna and flora and by the saga of the 1870s gold rush era and a wealth of fascinating tribal legends. Mountains, panoramic passes, valleys, rivers, waterfalls and forests characterise the landscape.

The Municipality amalgamated two former Transitional Local Councils and two Transitional Rural Councils – the historic towns of Piet Retief and Amsterdam. Mkhondo Local Municipality is one of the pilot sites for Comprehensive Rural Development Programme launched by the President of the Republic of South Africa in 2009.

Golfers are attracted by the local Country Clubs in Piet Retief and surroundings that provide excellent sporting facilities, in particular, while horse riding has a high appeal in the rural villages near KwaNgema and Driefontein. People who like hiking and car racing sport activities find Amsterdam much more convenient and fullfilling.

Entombe gives you a very warm welcome. This historical site forms part of the Battlefields Route, a trip through 14 historical towns whose surrounding areas boast the largest concentration of battlefields in South Africa. This same area of land then witnessed clashes between the British Empire. Amsterdam,  among the several venues that worth visiting, excites most of the bird lovers who happen to visit the site which also have special species of flowers. 

Major companies have created an industrial base in Mkhondo. Known as home to an impressive cluster of wood-based industries, Mkhondo is rich in certain resources like timber, coal, and water. Fishing Dams Municipal land is available for development of the key existing economic sectors such as forestry and agriculture.

 

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History and background of eMkhondo (Piet Retief)

​​Mkhondo (Piet Retief) is located on the Assegai River in the Assegai Valley, and surrounded by forests of indigenous yellowwood and hardwoods, and planted forests of Blue Gum, Pine and Wattle.

The town has a very interesting past and is steeped in history. All around the town is bits of interesting historical facts.The town of Piet Retief was laid out in 1883 on the farms Osloop and Geluk.

It became a municipality in 1932. Many Germans and Scots settled here in the later 1800s. This valley was so called after the Assegai River which runs through the valley, which is formed between the mountains of Swaziland and the Drakensberg escarpment of the highveld that runs between Ermelo and Wakkerstroom. An interesting and little known fact is that the Assegai River is a misnomer that was derived from the Zulu name for this river. In Zulu it is called the Mkonto river. This refers to an animal spoor and signifies how the river runs along a meandering course like the spoor of an animal. White settlers, however, confused the word Mkonto for Mkondo, which means spear. Therefore the word was improperly translated to be Assegai- or Spear River.

In those days, Piet Retief used to be a true frontier district and the whole area was much plagued by Swazi raiders from Swaziland. There was still the plague of tsetse flies and malaria in some areas, but it was for the largest part open and uninhabited country. The settlers that came from the highveld found it to be a region of very mild climatic conditions and high rainfall, with fertile soil. It was not long before they were using the Assegai valley in the winter time for grazing for their stock. The old farmers soon found out that the area was particularly suited for the cultivation of tobacco, and to this very day, the pipe tobacco brand, "Boxer" , is still called "Piet Retief Tobacco".

At first Piet Retief was not a separate district. It used to be part of the Wakkerstroom district, which used to be a very large district indeed. A Scottish settler by the name of Alexander MacCorkindale then managed to acquire a very large area of land which stretched from the region of Carolina through the town of Amsterdam, and includes parts of Piet Retief. For quite some time it used to be known as "New Scotland", because of the fact that the region reminded the settlers so much of Scotland, during summer.

His settlement was part of a plan of the old Transvaal Government to establish a Scottish buffer zone between the marauding Swazi and Zulu tribes, and the Transvaal.

The planned Scottish settlement was never really successful, but even today the Scottish influence can still be seen on farm and place names such as Athole, Roburnia (named after Robert Burns, the Scottish poet), Bonnie Brook and Londina.

After MacCorkindale's death the land was divided and sold off to mostly Afrikaaner families. In later years, many German immigrants also came to this region. At first they came as tradesmen and since the 1870's they had been busy working as woodcutters and carpenters in the mountains between Piet Retief and Wakkerstroom. It is not widely known that there are lush indigenous evergreen forests in this area with magnificent old yellowwood and other precious hardwood trees. These were cut up into planks and beams for the young and growing Transvaal Republic,and much of the wood was transported as far as Lourenco Marques, Kimberley, Warden, Barberton and even Botswana. Over the years the German settlers became successful farmers, and today Piet Retief has a particularly large and thriving German community. After 130 years and more, most German families still speak German as a mother tongue, and the German culture and religion is still strong.

The town was named after the European pioneer (Voortrekker) Piet Retief (1780 - 1838). Retief originally farmed near Grahamstown, but joined pioneers moving to the north when he ran into financial difficulties. He went bankrupt at least twice through gambling and land speculation.

Contact Us

Physical address
Cnr Market and De Wet Street
eMkhondo

Postal address
PO Box 23, eMkhondo
2380

Tel: +27 17 004 0197

Website: http://www.mkhondo.gov.za

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