Gerontocracy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the Public Sector Amid the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Perennial Problem

• Pages: 27-43
• Date: 01 December 2021
• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Author: Joseph Mudau,Mmatshepo Phuti Khanya
• Subject Matter: Derecho Público y Administrativo

European Journal of Economics, Law and Social Sciences

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

Special Issue

December, 2021

ISSN 2519-1284

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

27

Gerontocracy and the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the Public Sector Amid

the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Perennial Problem

Joseph Mudau

Madikana Jackinah Mokgokong

Tshwane University of Technology

Mmatshepo Phuti Khanya

University of South Africa

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak has aected a proliferation of countries in an unimaginable way

and South Africa is no exception. This outbreak demands a shift in knowledge, power

and governance – particularly in how the public sector delivers public goods and services.

The pandemic exposed the reluctance of aging government ocials to adopt new ways of

governance aimed at expediting service delivery. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced

governments across the spectrum to introduce policies, adaptations, and innovations to meet

the demands brought about by the pandemic. Government departments are required to be

dynamic in response to the changing needs of the citizenry. Its failure rearms the decline

in the running of the aairs of the state. The public sector is designed to be a fruitful agent

of change and development in society. To remain as such, it is pivotal that it adapts to the

dynamic environment that presents unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic and the

fourth industrial revolution (4IR). The paper uses a literary analysis approach to explore the

readiness of aging public servants in embracing the 4IR. The context of its consideration is the

South African public sector amid the COVID-19 pandemic period. A theoretical framework on

the phenomenon is explored. Summation and recommendations are provided.

Keywords: gerontocracy, 4IR, public sector, COVID-19 pandemic, aging public servants

Introduction and Background

Gerontocracy is leadership premised on seniority derived from the age factor. It is

rule by the old. It is def‌ined by Agba (2020) as a state or group governed by old

people. Classical literatures opine that the inception of gerontocracy stems from the

family ideal setup where an elder sibling cared for the younger ones and dictatorship

was out of the equation because all family heads met and deliberated on maers that

aected the compound family, hamlet, kindred or clan (Agba, 2020:39). Due to the

value placed on the age factor in gerontocratic societies, older members of families

hold apex positions. This was a norm in most African traditions, which believed that

elders are advanced in age and possess vast experience and power to take care of the

people.

A plethora of African countries have suered greatly over the years from the culture of

gerontocracy. This culture has subsided in the public sector in South Africa. According

to Onebunne, Ezeaka and Obasi (2017), in prior colonialism, African societies had

Special Issue

December, 2021

European Journal of Economics, Law and Social Sciences

IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria

ISSN 2519-1284

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

28

a political structure that was a government by the aged (senior men). These aged

were perceived to hold vast knowledge. It was also perceived that experience was

associated with wisdom. Literature bears testimony to the fact that African societies

had rich traditional political, religious, economic and social institutions charged with

the responsibility to allocate and discharge resources, and of law-making and social

control. Onebunne, Ezeaka and Obasi (2017) elaborate that in prior colonialism,

some African countries had established a central system of governance with chiefs

and kings and often times, the power of these rulers was restricted by various

arrangements including institutions of council. Gerontocracy was the order of the day

in the governance of public aairs prior to colonialism until the foundation of modern

democracy was introduced during European enlightenment in the 18th century

philosophic movements. Long before the Western democratic systems, gerontocracy

was a central form of government with the council of elders dictating the aairs of the

community (Onebbunne, 2017:40). Much of scholarly history on classical literature

in anthropology aver that in modern democracy, as John Lock foretold, the relation

between the ruler and the ruled is democratic and independent of any other theories

(Onebunne citing John Locke, 2017). Lock believed in the equality of men, the consent

of the majority, the division of power and the right to rebellion. In the main, prolif‌ic

studies in anthropology opine that a glut of African countries prior to colonial masters

had a political structure that was a government by the aged. They were perceived to

hold more experience and to be qualif‌ied to lead the population.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the public sector to adopt to the “new normal”

and/or the 4IR. Mudau and Mukonza (2021) contend that the imprints of the 4IR

can no longer be ignored, for, it brought peculiar unprecedented challenges and

prospects in the running of state aairs. Mudau and Mukonza (2021) further remind

us that the 4IR continues to shape the future through its impact on government

and business, and therefore the next generation ought to be well equipped with

knowledge about technological developments. The angst of the aging public servants

in South Africa about their fate in the 4IR is discernibly intense. Maserumule (2020)

reminds us that in a democratic realm, the state exists for the well-being of its citizenry

and therefore, at all times, the state is obliged to operate in the best interests of the

inhabitants. Ngcaweni (2020:608) aests that, “the safety and well-being of citizens

and thriving private enterprise depend on capable, responsive, eective and ecient

public administration”. Public administration remains a cornerstone of the running

of state aairs. The pandemic demands that the running of the state adopt a new

and peculiar approach, thus, the adopting of technology in the conceptualisation

and delivering of services (Mathebula, 2021). The potency of public administration

lies in its ability to form partnerships, maintain law and order and deliver service to

citizenry. Ngcaweni (2020) opines that these abilities are essentially a way to def‌ine

the capability of public administration. Therefore, the emergence of the 4IR and

outbreak of COVID-19 propels the aging public servants to embrace the changing

nature of delivering services and running the aairs of the state. Makumbe (2020:621)

asserts that the pandemic changed the traditional way in which people operate. In his

journal article titled E-learning in times of a pandemic: Exposing the economic disparities

between the ‘Haves’ and the ‘Haves-Nots’, he argues that “the COVID-19 has done much