The actual contest is still many moons away and yet the ANC has already played what many believe to be its trump card in the battle for the Nelson Mandela Bay metro. The selection of SA Football Association president Danny Jordaan by Luthuli House, the ANC national head office, as the next executive mayor of a troubled municipality, which includes Port Elizabeth, is definitely a game-changer as the country gears up for next year's local government elections.For both the ANC and the official opposition, the DA, success or failure in the upcoming elections hangs mainly on the outcome in Nelson Mandela Bay metro.Since the 2006 local government elections, in which the ANC won 66.5% of the votes there, the party has seen its fortunes slowly diminish.In 2011, its share of the vote in Nelson Mandela Bay fell to 52.1% and the trend continued in last year's general election, when it was only 48.8%.The DA has experienced the opposite during the same period, growing its support from 24.4% in 2006 to 40.2% in 2011 and to 40.8% in 2014.Buoyed by this, the DA has set its sights on unseating the ANC in the metro with newly elected DA federal chairman Athol Trollip declaring himself his party's mayoral candidate for next year.But, judging by how negligible the growth was between 2011 and last year, the DA is unlikely to go beyond the 50% mark required if Trollip is to be mayor next year.His only hope, if the ANC slump continues, would be to go into a coalition with Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighters and, if they make good on their threat, the Numsa-sponsored United Front.But would Malema and Numsa's Irvin Jim, both of whom broke away from the ANC, accusing it of adopting the DA's neo-liberal policies, be comfortable with helping Trollip take over a metro named after Madiba?The burning question is whether Jordaan's selection will help the ANC arrest its decline in Port Elizabeth.The answer will emerge at the polls next winter.What is clear, however, is that it will bring stability to a municipality that has changed mayors three times since 2011.Jordaan's greatest challenge will not be the opposition but the ANC's caucus in the metro. M uch of the metro government's failings can be attributed to the endless factional fights in the ANC in the region over access to resources.For Jordaan to succeed, Luthuli House will have to shield him from these warring factions.The national leadership of the ANC has already taken a step in that direction, disbanding the divided ANC regional executive committee and replacing it with an interim structure headed by party veteran Charles Nqakula.With that kind of support, Jordaan will have no reason to fail and his success would go a long way to helping the party retain control of the metro.But the ANC never plays all its cards before an election, so don't be surprised if, after the local government elections next year, Jordaan does not return as mayor.In the few interviews he has given since the announcement, Jordaan has suggested as much - telling reporters that he "may be somewhere else, football-related" come the end of 2016.The worst mistake the opposition can make is to plan its 2016 election campaign for PE with only the soccer boss in mind...