Weather forecasts from the South African Weather Service (SAWS) currently run at a 98% accuracy, compared with 75% for international sites forecasting in South Africa. (http://bit.ly/xofAkE)

This week’s theme: Weather in South Africa

The windiest place in South Africa is Cape Point (in the Western Cape) which experiences only 2% of all hours in the year with calm conditions. (http://bit.ly/xQuLMY)

This week’s theme: Weather in South Africa

The forecast maximum temperatures for Cape Town for Tuesday to Friday this week are 25, 25, 27 and 22 degrees Celsius respectively. For London they are 3, 2, 2 and 2. (BBC Weather Service, 2012-02-06)

This week’s theme: Weather in South Africa

The highest recorded temperature in South Africa is 50

In a speech at the 2004 World Economic Forum, Bill Gates was quoted as saying ‘Two years from now, spam will be solved’. Today, spam accounts for over 70% of all emails sent. (bit.ly/xDkwnP, bit.ly/yJAgD2)

This week’s theme: Eighty20 forecasts

Facebook will have one billion active users by August 2012. (bit.ly/xvpgaS)

This week’s theme: Eighty20 forecasts

According to the National Development Plan 2011, the unemployment rate needs to fall from 27% in 2011 to 14% by 2020 and to 6% by 2030. This requires an additional 11 million jobs.

This week’s theme: Eighty20 forecasts

Treasury expects the number of grant recipients to increase to 16.7 million by 2013/14, up from 14.9 million in 2010/11. In both years, roughly two thirds will be in the form of child support grants. (SANT)

This week’s theme: Eighty20 forecasts

According to the National Development Plan 2011, the proportion of people with access to electricity must rise from 70% in 2010 to 95% by 2030.

This week’s theme: Eighty20 forecasts

According to the 2010 MRC Youth Risk Behaviour Survey, 65.4% of learners in South Africa reported being taught about HIV/AIDS at school. The province with the highest percentage was the Western Cape (81.9%) while Limpopo was the lowest (49.5%). (Education for All, South Africa Country Report, 2010)

This week’s theme: Back to school