Black First Land First is no more. Andile Mngxitama’s retirement plan has been officially deregistered, leaving 0.07% of registered voters politically homeless.

The Electoral Court’s Monday ruling – that the BLF could not appeal its deregistration as a party because it still excluded membership on the basis of race, colour or ethnicity – lowered the curtain on one of SA’s most morbidly fascinating political sideshows.

While the decision has been praised by the BLF’s opponents, it is unlikely to be a permanent setback for Mngxitama, a political entrepreneur who has demonstrated a deep and genuine passion for getting paid. Anyone who publicly hitches his wagon to the Jacob Zuma fightback movement clearly has the chops, and the complete lack of scruples, to make it big in a world full of politicians looking to employ a sock puppet to scream at people...