Indeed yes, I assume it was a reference to the slightly surreal experience of driving over the Devil's Peak rise at Groote Schuur around 9pm and seeing Rondebosch spread below us, largely in blackout. Weirdly post-apocalyptic.

Entertainingly, the story I've heard about the current round of load shedding (which is, indeed, a lovely euphemism for "bad planning of a basic utility") is that the Mpumulanga power station was thrown by the unseasonal rains this year and all their outside coal got too wet to use. I mentally class this with London grinding to a halt because of "the wrong kind of snow".