For more than two decades interventions by provincial governments into failed municipalities have not worked — about 100 remain in crisis and cannot provide residents with the most basic of services. The high court order that the Makana municipal council in the Eastern Cape be dissolved for failing to fulfill its constitutional obligation to provide residents with services is but one of the examples of a broken local government system. Beyond these interventions experts also warn that the government needs to take a serious look at how municipalities are run. Section 139 of the Constitution, which provides for provincial intervention in local government, has never been a silver bullet. The section 139 interventions require a provincial government to a) issue a directive to the municipalities; b) assume responsibility because the municipality could not fulfil an obligation; c) dissolve the municipality; d) take steps to ensure a municipality adopts the budget; and e) have a recovery plan to secure the municipality’s ability to meet its obligation.