Here's 5 reasons why everyone loved Skeem Saam's Leshole in 2018

2018 has to be the year that Skeem Saam's Leshole cemented his place as one of the key characters on Mzansi TV in a storyline that saw him survive Listeria to finding love. 

The character, played by actor Thabo Mkhabela, took viewers of the popular soapie on a rollercoaster of emotions and often found himself on the Twitter trends lists for the things he was going through.

Speaking to TshisaLIVE, Thabo said that he was blown away by the response to his character and predicted that it would become an iconic character that defined him like Connie Ferguson's character Karabo on Generations.

""I don't like thinking about the future too much but I think I will always be Leshole. The character will stick with me for the rest of my life - long after I have left Skeem Saam. Something like Karabo. People just like him so much."

Here are just some of the things that happened to Leshole in 2018 that won him a place in our hearts.

He survived listeria

The great listeria outbreak rocked Mzansi, killing more than 203 people. The ST6 strain of listeria was found in Tiger Brands Polokwane's processed meat factory at the start of 2018 and led to a recall of products including polony.

So imagine the nation's shock when they turned on their TV to see Leshole chowing polony.

Luckily he survived...

He had the worst luck

He may have dodged the listeria bug but he also missed a job opportunity after missing out on a spot at a pilot academy. He was heartbroken and fans were equally as devastated.

He almost lost a leg

To make matters worse he almost lost his leg after he was shot and had to go in for an amputation. By then fans of the show were so gatvol of his bad luck that they started a petition and threatened to boycott the show until the soapie's writers stopped "abusing" the character.

He went to Durban

But by September came along, things were starting to look up for Leshole. He and malume Big Boy got the chance to go to Durban and after suffering a panic attack when they couldn't find their ID they finally made it to the sea.

The country was overjoyed.

He found love

This was followed up a few weeks later by him finding love. And so, with the confidence of a man just back from a dream holiday, he took his shot straight away and asked for Nomasonto's number.

Fans of the show could smell a romance brewing.