Cape Town — Free classified advertisement is what South Africans were interested in this year, if Google's Zeitgeist list is anything to go by - as OLX topped the most-searched category. South Africa is the only African country where Gangnam Style, the most-viewed Youtube of all time at nearly one billion views, made it on to any of the search category lists.

American singer, producer and model Whitney Houston, who died in February this year, was the most searched in the People category, followed by Olympic medallist Caster Semenya and celebrity actor, singer and author Khanyi Mbau.

Semenya was also the most searched name and athlete in South Africa, followed by Olympic gold medalist Chad le Clos, according to the list which revisits 2012's top searches around the world.

Semenya, a middle-distance runner and world champion, represented the country at the 2009 World Championships and won gold in the women's 800 metres.

Her victory saw the world questioning her "advantage" over her female competitors and cited that she had high levels of testosterone. Her subsequent "gender testing" caused some controversy.

On the "What is...?" category, cancer was the most-searched. One in six South African men and one in seven South African women will get cancer, according to the Cancer Association of South Africa.

Top 10 Searches

OLX
Whitney Houston
Hurricane Sandy
Gangnam Style
Olympics
Velvet Sky
Caster Semenya
Diablo 3
Khanyi Mbau
iPad 3

For full list, go to http://www.google.com/zeitgeist/2012/#nigeria/