“Pot” Stemmet faces fees over theft of Lottery-funded products
“Pot” Stemmet faces fees over theft of Lottery-funded products
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Richard “Pot” Stemmet, remaining, and an investigator appointed with the National Lotteries Commission to analyze the Lottery-funded minstrel museum: Photograph from an investigative report commissioned from the NLC
Richard “Pot” Stemmet is struggling with prosecution immediately after equipment paid out for with cash from the Lottery was removed from a Cape City setting up he rented.
Stemmet is to look in courtroom in January.
As outlined by a prosecutor the felony expenses could contain fraud, removing of apparatus that were connected from the Sheriff and interfering having a Metropolis of Cape City electrical power meter.
The charges stem from a grievance laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who, in a civil court subject, is searching for to Get better more than R2.5-million in unpaid rent, fascination, lawful costs and damage to a rented developing in Crete Street, in the commercial space of Wetton in Cape City.
The setting up was Beforehand the headquarters with the Cape City Minstrel Carnival Affiliation (CTMCA) which is in which a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the city’s centuries-outdated minstrel tradition was supposedly operating.
Convicted felony Richard “Pot” Stemmet is struggling with prosecution for theft and fraud just after devices paid out for with Lottery resources was removed from a Cape City creating.
Stemmet was arrested by the Specialised Business Criminal offense Unit on sixteen October 2024 and told to appear while in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on 21 November.
GroundUp attended courtroom over the day though the matter was not put on the court docket roll as the investigating officer didn't supply the docket to prosecutors. Stemmet has now been summonsed to seem in courtroom in January.
The legal fees stem from a complaint laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, that's seeking to Get better about R2.5-million in unpaid rent, desire, authorized expenses and harm to a rented constructing in Crete Road, in the commercial area of Wetton in Cape Town.
The setting up was Formerly the headquarters of your Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA). This is where a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating town’s generations-old minstrel tradition was supposedly working.
The premises also housed several firms owned by Stemmet, whom law enforcement have called a medication substantial flier. Between the companies Stemmet ran within the premises had been a hat manufacturing firm along with a nightclub. Stemmet has become arrested a number of instances for gun and drug-relevant offences and served time for armed robbery while in the eighties.
In keeping with an SMS despatched to Meuwese from the investigating officer, Stemmet has now been summonsed to appear in court docket on 30 January 2025.
While Stemmet is still being presented with a cost sheet, feasible prices, contain fraud, elimination of apparatus that were attached through the Sheriff, and interfering with a City of Cape Town electricity meter, In accordance with an e mail sent to Meuwese by a senior prosecutor dealing with the make any difference.
A grant of just about R13-million to establish the minstrel museum was Section of greater than R64-million in Lottery money allocated on the CTMCA between 2003 and 2017, with the majority of the money - above R54.three-million - paid out in the 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 fiscal decades, In accordance with National Lotteries Fee (NLC) annual reports.
Stemmet was appointed a director with the CTMCA in September 1996 but resigned in December 2016. His wife Zainonesa and daughter Raziah ongoing หวย ออก as two of several administrators in the organisation. Stemmet was reappointed as being a director in 2021.
In keeping with Meuwese, the setting up was leased to Stalph 164, an in depth Company of which Stemmet was among the administrators. The organization was deregistered by the businesses and Intellectual House Fee (CIPC) in March 2023 for non-compliance in publishing annual reviews.
A new entity Together with the same name was subsequently registered as A non-public enterprise, but with Stemmet no longer a director, In line with CIPC documents. Rather, a member of the family, Ra’ees Stemmet, and Alfonzo van Niekerk have been appointed as directors.
On the night of twelve April 2021 and into the following early morning, the Crete Road premises were being cleared plus the machinery was taken off, Based on an affidavit by Meuwese. The devices was moved to new premises rented by Stemmet in Mymoena Crescent inside the Athlone industrial area, which housed many of Stemmet’s companies and also a new “minstrel museum”, Based on a leaked investigative report commissioned because of the NLC. The investigator also photographed the machines at The brand new premises.
Nonetheless, the supposed new museum web site, much like the previous a single in Wetton, was effectively from any of Cape Town’s vacationer routes and people couldn't accessibility it. There was no signage around the setting up indicating that it housed a museum.
Stemmet’s enterprises vacated the premises previously this calendar year soon after he fell unwell.
The funding to ascertain a museum wasn't the only lottery grant the CTMCA received. In 2021, the association was allocated R100,000 and R1.five-million in Covid aid grants. The NLC originally refused to expose who experienced obtained Covid funding but eventually relented under media and parliamentary stress.
Other lottery grants allocated to non-income entities connected to Stemmet and his spouse and children and his associates consist of R1.4-million for the Cape Cultural Carnival and Occasions Committee in 2019/twenty, and an extra R500,000 in 2021/22, In keeping with NLC yearly studies. Stemmet is actually a former director of the committee and his spouse, Zainonesa, is at present a director.
And, the Peninsula and District Carnival Association, and that is registered on the CTMCA’s former Crete Street offices, was allocated R190,000 in 2019/twenty, and a further R635,000 in 2021/22 for your “craft, woodwork and layout programme”. However, it appears that the 2021/22 payment was withheld once the NLC lifted questions about fantastic stories related to earlier funding received because of the CTMCA.
GroundUp has verified the SIU is investigating the lottery funding gained via the CTMCA.
Also less than investigation is usually a R1-million payment by the CTMCA to MDU Consulting Engineers, which subsequently paid out R500,000 of this to legal professionals acting in the purchase of the R27-million mansion for former NLC Board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
MDU also acted as a conduit for an additional R3-m payment by Zibsimanzi, an organization by which the spouse of former NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba was a director, toward the purchase on the mansion. Zibsimanzi received R4.8-million to phase a rural soccer tournament in Limpopo soon after Letwaba Individually advised the grant be compensated to his spouse’s firm.
GroundUp despatched concerns to Stemmet through SMS but he experienced not replied by the point of publication.