Umzimkhulu is a town in Harry Gwala District Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The town lies 243 km north-east of Mthatha and 18 km south-west of Ixopo. It developed from a trading-post and was laid out in 1884. Takes its name from the Mzimkulu River on which it is situated; Zulu and Xhosa for 'big place', 'large home' of the waters. Until 1 March 2006, the town was part of an exclave of the Eastern Cape, before being transferred to KwaZulu-Natal as part of the Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa.