Piet Retief, officially eMkhondo, is a town situated along the R543 Regional Route between Dirkiesdorp and the Eswatini border in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa.
The town lies in a timber-growing region and is the seat of the Mkhondo Local Municipality in the Gert Sibande District of Mpumalanga province.
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 was founded by the Voortrekkers in 1883 and named it after the Voortrekker leader, Piet Retief, who was killed by the Zulus under their King Dingane’s orders, after a negotiation for land failed.
The town became a municipality in 1932. Its main tourist attraction is the Dutch Reformed Church that was designed by the architect Gerard Moerdijk and built in 1921.
On 2 February 2010, South African Arts and Culture minister Lulu Xingwana approved a state decision for Piet Retief to be renamed to eMkhondo.
The area has an annual rainfall of 1000 mm. Its main economic activities are timber, paper and wattle bark production as well as mica, kaolin and iron mining.
