Department of Politics and Administrative Studies, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana; Department of Development Studies, School of Social Sciences, University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6871-4526.
College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
J Emerg Manag. 2024 May-Jun;22(3):291-300. doi: 10.5055/jem.0832.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has changed people's interactions dramatically, be it with the government, the outside world, or one another. It has compelled society to change the standards for decision-making in areas such as health and education, and how people live, work, play, and do business. As a result of the new behavioral patterns imposed by governments around the world, including the South African government, there has been technological advancement through the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). In South Africa, key economic sectors such as healthcare, education, and finance have served as digital change engines. Without a doubt, technology has been able to halt the spread of the virus. The main objective of this paper is to raise awareness of 4IR and to identify opportunities presented by 4IR for South Africa and the challenges presented by 4IR in resolving COVID-19 issues. It examines the relationship between evolving technological advances brought about by 4IR and COVID-19. Following a review of the relevant literature, the study's findings revealed that prior to the pandemic, several sectors were wary of, and slow to accept, 4IR. Despite the benefits of 4IR, many African countries face difficulties across various sectors. Almost all African countries are unprepared for 4IR, with the exception of South Africa, which is considered partially ready and ranks 22nd on the automation readiness index. African countries that have embraced digital transformation have cited South Africa as a case study due to its adoption of 4IR. Despite the benefits, several barriers to the adoption and use of 4IR technologies have been identified in developing countries, including South Africa, which has the opportunity to adopt consistent 4IR.
新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）极大地改变了人们的互动方式，无论是与政府、外部世界还是彼此之间。它迫使社会改变卫生和教育等领域的决策标准，以及人们的生活、工作、娱乐和经商方式。由于包括南非政府在内的世界各国政府实施的新行为模式，第四次工业革命（4IR）带来了技术进步。在南非，医疗保健、教育和金融等关键经济部门已成为数字变革的引擎。毫无疑问，技术已经能够阻止病毒的传播。本文的主要目的是提高对 4IR 的认识，并确定 4IR 为南非带来的机遇以及 4IR 在解决 COVID-19 问题方面带来的挑战。它考察了 4IR 带来的不断发展的技术进步与 COVID-19 之间的关系。在对相关文献进行回顾后，研究结果表明，在大流行之前，一些部门对 4IR 持谨慎态度，并且对 4IR 的接受速度较慢。尽管 4IR 带来了好处，但许多非洲国家在各个部门都面临困难。几乎所有非洲国家都没有为 4IR 做好准备，除了南非，南非被认为部分做好了准备，在自动化准备指数上排名第 22 位。已经接受数字转型的非洲国家将南非作为一个案例研究，因为南非采用了 4IR。尽管存在好处，但在包括南非在内的发展中国家，已经确定了采用和使用 4IR 技术的几个障碍，南非有机会采用一致的 4IR。
