Economic recovery and corruption are expected to take centre stage at the biannual two-day Cabinet lekgotla that's currently under way.

Speaking to the media shortly before the virtual meeting, Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu said: "This lekgotla will focus on economic recovery. Covid-19 has had serious devastation on our lives, the economy, employment and business. As government, we must come with a reconstruction and a recovery plan to recover from the devastation caused by Covid-19."

In his closing address at the African National Congress's (ANC's) own lekgotla this past weekend, President Cyril Ramaphosa said decisive steps to rebuild and transform the economy would need to be made.

He said the pandemic starkly exposed the deep levels of poverty, hunger and deprivation and that the challenge was the fundamental restructure of society and economy.

"In the second quarter of 2020, our economy recorded a staggering contraction and more than two million jobs were lost. During this time, the unemployed fell off the statistical radar as they were not able to search for work and became classified as not economically active.

"What this alarming statistic reveals is there are too many of our fellow citizens who are without work, who cannot provide for their families and whose energies are lost to the economy. Too many of our compatriots are going hungry and we need to develop innovative and agile strategies that respond to the real challenges faced by the people," Ramaphosa said.

Mthembu added that the lekgotla would focus on key areas in the recovery plan, namely infrastructure, mass employment, strengthening energy security and localisation through industrialisation.

With the recent wave of arrests and rumours of eminent arrests of prominent ANC members for alleged corruption, Mthembu added that another key focus area would be crime and corruption.

"We have seen crime and corruption rearing their ugly head. This government lekgotla will also say: 'How do you deal with crime and corruption?' Of course the last part linked to economic recovery is how do you do justice to the public purse. What do you do in the wake of what has happened to boost your expenditure of your public purse and public finances? " he said.

The ANC lekgotla recently affirmed its position that employees of the state should not conduct business with the government.

Amid widespread reports of corruption relating to emergency procurement during the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a raging debate on whether family members of ANC leaders should be allowed to do business with the state.

The plan was first advanced in a draft economic recovery action plan before the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), which proposed "extending the prohibition of the ban on public servants doing business with the state to politically exposed persons (PEP), as per the Financial Intelligence Centre Act's definitions".

Ramaphosa said on Monday that further consultations would be held among alliance partners and in the legislatures to find the most appropriate approach to the issue of other politically exposed persons conducting business with the state.

If Nedlac's plan is accepted, this would have a profound effect on family members of politicians who coin it through business with the state.

ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule has long defended the millions his sons are making through state procurement.