Eskom, which received a R254bn bailout in the February Budget, can't submit its audited financial statements to Parliament by the end-of-September deadline, it emerged on Wednesday when the state-owned power utility detailed its confidence for an improved electricity supply.

In a public institution, audited financial statements are a tool for accountability on how it spent its money, on what and for which returns. In the political machinations around Eskom and the determined PR campaign by the Presidency's electricity minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, such details are among the few certainties.

"We are still busy finalising our audit... We are dealing with one or two transactions, and then finalising the PFMA [Public Finance Management Act] audit. We aim to finalise it in October," said Eskom's acting CEO and chief financial officer, Calib Cassim, at a state of the system briefing on Wednesday.

A letter to that effect from public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan, who's responsible for Eskom, has yet to be published in Parliament's Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports. Already printed this week were such letters on delays to Parliament from Gordhan's Cabinet colleagues in the departments of home affairs, water and sanitation, and agriculture.

Cassim made it clear he had not applied for the permanent CEO post, which has been vacant since the 22 February departure of André de Ruyter, but that he was in discussions over the possible extension of his stay as CFO.

Five months after the Eskom board,...