South African newspapers are running out of cheesy blackout headlines

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Dark times beget dark humor, and the jokes making the rounds in blackout-plagued South Africa these days are nothing if not bleak.

This country has been plunged into weeks of rolling blackouts, known as "load shedding," with the state power utility, Eskom, unable to meet electricity demand. Newspapers long ago used up their best "Hello Darkness, My Old Friend"-type headlines.

"What did South Africa use before candles?" asks one joke. The answer: electricity.

Lifestyle sections run stories on "loadshedding recipes" — meals you can prepare without electricity — and instructional guides on living in the dark.

Eskom has released what might be the most depressing festive calendar ever, a color-coded affair indicating on which days over the holidays there is likely to be load shedding. Checking the complicated schedule of rolling blackouts has become more important than checking the weather forecast — and reads very similarly.

Worst of all, the electricity interruptions could last for two more years as the beleaguered power utility battles with technical problems at aging power stations, and delays in bringing new capacity online.

It is bad news for South Africa's already dismal economy. The constant power outages have come at a tough time for retailers struggling to turn a profit in the important December shopping month.

Other businesses are muddling through.

A few companies, though, have managed to capitalize on the darkness.

Loadshedding has certainly been a boon to South African cartoonists….