Dark nights bring dark humour to South Africa

South Africa’s public electricity supplier, Eskom, is under fire for its frequent power cuts, which took place to prevent the electricity grid from collapsing from water and diesel shortages. Some lawmakers argue the country is facing an energy crisis and that the electricity grids should be opened to independent power producers.

Eskom’s chief executive warned South Africans to brace themselves for another 18 months of cuts, but argued the issue had been misrepresented and overblown by the media.

South Africans are not convinced, however, and are airing their complaints on Twitter using #IfEskomWasA, to highlight what they see as the company’s inefficiency. The hashtag has been used more than 2,000 times.