Baines, Gary F., 1955-1990-02-061990-02-061990-02-06http://hdl.handle.net/10539/7609Paper presented at the Wits History Workshop: Structure and Experience in the Making of Apartheid, 6-10 February, 1990The historical significance of advisory boards has been downplayed because of their contradictory role in urban African politics. Until the 1940s, the system of Advisory Boards was dominated by the 'most reactionary elements' of the African petty bourgeoisie. This paper contends that, despite the purely consultative functions of the Boards, participation in Advisory Board politics was an important channel of mobilisation in urban African communities until at least the Second World War. Thereafter their legitimacy of was questioned. This paper also studies the New Brighton Advisory Board with particular reference to the question of the Board's legitimacy and its relationship with the local authority in the period between 1923 and 1952. It also evaluates the Board as a locus of activity concerned with wider socio-political issues.enNew Brighton (Port Elizabeth)Advisory BoardsLocal governmentSouth AfricaWorking Paper