“Pot” Stemmet faces expenses in excess of theft of Lottery-funded equipment
“Pot” Stemmet faces expenses in excess of theft of Lottery-funded equipment
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Richard “Pot” Stemmet, still left, and an investigator appointed via the Nationwide Lotteries Commission to research the Lottery-funded minstrel museum: Picture from an investigative report commissioned by the NLC
Richard “Pot” Stemmet is struggling with prosecution after products paid out for with cash with the Lottery was faraway from a Cape Town creating he rented.
Stemmet is to appear in court docket in January.
Based on a prosecutor the prison prices could involve fraud, elimination of apparatus that were connected via the Sheriff and interfering with a Metropolis of Cape Town electrical power meter.
The charges stem from the grievance laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who, inside a civil court docket make any difference, is looking for to Recuperate over R2.5-million in unpaid rent, fascination, authorized prices and damage to a rented developing in Crete Highway, in the industrial location of Wetton in Cape Town.
The setting up was Formerly the headquarters of the Cape City Minstrel Carnival Affiliation (CTMCA) and is the place a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating town’s centuries-previous minstrel tradition was supposedly operating.
Convicted prison Richard “Pot” Stemmet is facing prosecution for theft and fraud after tools compensated for with Lottery cash was faraway from a Cape Town constructing.
Stemmet was arrested by the Specialised Business Crime Unit on 16 Oct 2024 and explained to to appear while in the Wynberg Justice of the peace’s Courtroom on 21 November.
GroundUp attended court docket within the working day though the make a difference was not placed on the court roll as the investigating officer did not provide the docket to prosecutors. Stemmet has now been summonsed to appear in court docket in January.
The felony costs stem from a criticism laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who's in search of to Recuperate above R2.five-million in unpaid hire, curiosity, lawful expenditures and damage to a rented building in Crete Highway, in the commercial region of Wetton in Cape City.
The constructing was Formerly the headquarters from the Cape City Minstrel Carnival Affiliation (CTMCA). This is where a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the city’s generations-outdated minstrel culture was supposedly working.
The premises also housed a number of enterprises owned by Stemmet, whom police have described as a prescription drugs substantial flier. Between the companies Stemmet ran from your premises ended up a hat producing organization as well as a nightclub. Stemmet has become arrested many periods for gun and drug-linked offences and served time for armed robbery in the eighties.
According to an SMS despatched to Meuwese via the investigating officer, Stemmet has now been summonsed to seem in court on 30 January 2025.
Although Stemmet is still to become offered which has a charge sheet, doable charges, contain fraud, elimination of apparatus that had been connected with the Sheriff, and interfering that has a Metropolis of Cape Town electric power meter, As outlined by an e mail sent to Meuwese by a senior prosecutor handling the make any difference.
A grant of just about R13-million to establish the minstrel museum was A part of more than R64-million in Lottery cash allocated into the CTMCA amongst 2003 and 2017, with the bulk of the money - over R54.3-million - compensated within the 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 money a long time, In keeping with National Lotteries Commission (NLC) yearly stories.
Stemmet was appointed a director of the CTMCA in September 1996 but resigned in December 2016. His wife Zainonesa and daughter Raziah continued ผล หวย หุ้น as two of numerous administrators in the organisation. Stemmet was reappointed to be a director in 2021.
As outlined by Meuwese, the building was leased to Stalph 164, an in depth corporation of which Stemmet was amongst the administrators. The organization was deregistered by the Companies and Intellectual House Commission (CIPC) in March 2023 for non-compliance in distributing yearly studies.
A different entity While using the exact identify was subsequently registered as A non-public firm, but with Stemmet not a director, In accordance with CIPC records. Instead, a relative, Ra’ees Stemmet, and Alfonzo van Niekerk ended up appointed as directors.
Over the evening of twelve April 2021 and into the following early morning, the Crete Highway premises have been cleared and also the machinery was eradicated, In line with an affidavit by Meuwese. The gear was moved to new premises rented by Stemmet in Mymoena Crescent while in the Athlone industrial space, which housed a number of of Stemmet’s firms in addition to a new “minstrel museum”, Based on a leaked investigative report commissioned through the NLC. The investigator also photographed the products at the new premises.
Even so, the intended new museum web site, much like the previous 1 in Wetton, was nicely away from any of Cape City’s tourist routes and visitors couldn't access it. There was no signage over the setting up indicating that it housed a museum.
Stemmet’s firms vacated the premises earlier this yr after he fell sick.
The funding to determine a museum was not the sole lottery grant the CTMCA received. In 2021, the association was allocated R100,000 and R1.5-million in Covid aid grants. The NLC initially refused to reveal who had obtained Covid funding but eventually relented less than media and parliamentary pressure.
Other lottery grants allocated to non-revenue entities linked to Stemmet and his family members and his associates contain R1.4-million for the Cape Cultural Carnival and Events Committee in 2019/twenty, and an additional R500,000 in 2021/22, In line with NLC annual experiences. Stemmet is usually a former director of the committee and his spouse, Zainonesa, is at present a director.
And, the Peninsula and District Carnival Affiliation, that's registered in the CTMCA’s previous Crete Highway workplaces, was allotted R190,000 in 2019/twenty, and a further R635,000 in 2021/22 for the “craft, woodwork and design programme”. Even so, it seems that the 2021/22 payment was withheld once the NLC raised questions about exceptional studies connected to before funding been given by the CTMCA.
GroundUp has verified which the SIU is investigating the lottery funding been given via the CTMCA.
Also less than investigation is usually a R1-million payment via the CTMCA to MDU Consulting Engineers, which consequently paid R500,000 of the to attorneys performing in the acquisition of a R27-million mansion for previous NLC Board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
MDU also acted like a conduit for an extra R3-m payment by Zibsimanzi, a firm during 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 Event in Limpopo right after Letwaba Individually recommended that the grant be paid out to his wife’s corporation.
GroundUp despatched concerns to Stemmet through SMS but he had not replied by the time of publication.