In this half an hour we look at the year that was for regional blocs - The Southern African Development Community (SADC) and West African regional organisation (Ecowas)...  Governments across Southern Africa have had to deal with a number of setbacks in 2025 as domestic and global pressure challenge the capacity of the bloc to deal with regional challenges such as post-election political crisis in Mozambique, the socioeconomic problems of Zimbabwe and Malawi... Ecowas on the other end it's facing challenges of division with Sahel countries, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have withdrawn from the organisation and have formed a new Sahel region organisation. All these compounded by the  shock as US President Donald Trump announce a raft of global trade tariffs in April and cutting aid to a number of African countries .Now to look at all this and what these regional blocs are to expect in the year 2026 is Policy and Political Analyst, Prof Somadoda Fikeni