“Pot” Stemmet faces expenses above theft of Lottery-funded equipment
“Pot” Stemmet faces expenses above theft of Lottery-funded equipment
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Richard “Pot” Stemmet, left, and an investigator appointed by the Nationwide Lotteries Commission to research the Lottery-funded minstrel museum: Photograph from an investigative report commissioned through the NLC
Richard “Pot” Stemmet is going through prosecution just after machines paid out for with funds in the Lottery was faraway from a Cape Town building he rented.
Stemmet is to seem in court in January.
According to a prosecutor the felony costs could include fraud, elimination of kit that were attached because of the Sheriff and interfering with a Metropolis of Cape Town energy meter.
The charges stem from a complaint laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who, in the civil courtroom subject, is seeking to recover above R2.5-million in unpaid rent, desire, lawful prices and harm to a rented constructing in Crete Street, in the industrial space of Wetton in Cape City.
The constructing was Formerly the headquarters from the Cape City Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA) and is particularly wherever a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the city’s generations-previous minstrel society was supposedly working.
Convicted felony Richard “Pot” Stemmet is dealing with prosecution for theft and fraud immediately after tools paid out for with Lottery resources was removed from a Cape Town creating.
Stemmet was arrested via the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit on 16 Oct 2024 and told to appear inside the Wynberg Magistrate’s Courtroom on 21 November.
GroundUp attended court within the day nevertheless the issue was not put on the courtroom roll since the investigating officer didn't supply the docket to prosecutors. Stemmet has now been summonsed to seem in court in January.
The felony fees stem from a criticism laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who's seeking to Get well above R2.five-million in unpaid rent, fascination, legal expenditures and damage to a rented constructing in Crete Highway, in the commercial space of Wetton in Cape Town.
The constructing was Beforehand the headquarters from the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA). This is where a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the town’s generations-aged minstrel society was supposedly functioning.
The premises also housed a number of organizations owned by Stemmet, whom police have described as a medicines large flier. Amid the businesses Stemmet ran in the premises were a hat producing corporation and also a nightclub. Stemmet has actually been arrested various instances for gun and drug-associated offences and served time for armed theft from the eighties.
In line with an SMS despatched to Meuwese with the investigating officer, Stemmet has now been summonsed to look in court on 30 January 2025.
While Stemmet is yet to get introduced which has a charge sheet, feasible fees, involve fraud, removing of kit that were hooked up because of the Sheriff, and interfering which has a Town of Cape Town electrical power meter, As outlined by an e-mail sent to Meuwese by a senior prosecutor managing the subject.
A grant of virtually R13-million to establish the minstrel museum was Component of a lot more than R64-million in Lottery funds allotted for the CTMCA between 2003 and 2017, with the majority of The cash - above R54.three-million - paid from the 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 monetary decades, In accordance with Nationwide Lotteries Fee (NLC) once-a-year reports.
Stemmet was appointed a director in the CTMCA in September 1996 but resigned in December 2016. His wife Zainonesa and daughter Raziah continued ผล หวย as two of several administrators of the organisation. Stemmet was reappointed for a director in 2021.
In accordance with Meuwese, the setting up was leased to Stalph 164, a close corporation of which Stemmet was one among the administrators. The company was deregistered by the Companies and Mental Property Commission (CIPC) in March 2023 for non-compliance in submitting annual reports.
A brand new entity With all the very same title was subsequently registered as a private company, but with Stemmet now not a director, In keeping with CIPC data. Alternatively, a member of the family, Ra’ees Stemmet, and Alfonzo van Niekerk were appointed as administrators.
Within the night of 12 April 2021 and into the next early morning, the Crete Road premises were being cleared along with the equipment was eliminated, In keeping with an affidavit by Meuwese. The tools was moved to new premises rented by Stemmet in Mymoena Crescent during the Athlone industrial region, which housed many of Stemmet’s enterprises along with a new “minstrel museum”, In line with a leaked investigative report commissioned via the NLC. The investigator also photographed the machines at The brand new premises.
Having said that, the meant new museum web-site, such as outdated one particular in Wetton, was effectively far from any of Cape City’s tourist routes and guests couldn't accessibility it. There was no signage on the making indicating that it housed a museum.
Stemmet’s organizations vacated the premises before this yr just after he fell ill.
The funding to ascertain a museum wasn't the only lottery grant the CTMCA been given. In 2021, the association was allocated R100,000 and R1.5-million in Covid reduction grants. The NLC to begin with refused to expose who experienced received Covid funding but ultimately relented beneath media and parliamentary force.
Other lottery grants allotted to non-financial gain entities associated with Stemmet and his spouse and children and his associates include R1.four-million with the Cape Cultural Carnival and Situations Committee in 2019/twenty, and a further R500,000 in 2021/22, Based on NLC once-a-year stories. Stemmet can be a former director with the committee and his wife, Zainonesa, is currently a director.
And, the Peninsula and District Carnival Affiliation, that is registered within the CTMCA’s former Crete Street places of work, was allocated R190,000 in 2019/20, and an extra R635,000 in 2021/22 to get a “craft, woodwork and style and design programme”. Nonetheless, it appears that the 2021/22 payment was withheld following the NLC lifted questions on outstanding reviews connected with previously funding gained via the CTMCA.
GroundUp has verified which the SIU is investigating the lottery funding gained because of the CTMCA.
Also underneath investigation is often a R1-million payment because of the CTMCA to MDU Consulting Engineers, which consequently paid R500,000 of the to lawyers performing in the purchase of the R27-million mansion for former NLC Board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
MDU also acted as being a conduit for an extra R3-m payment by Zibsimanzi, a business by which the spouse of previous NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba was a director, in direction of the acquisition on the mansion. Zibsimanzi been given R4.8-million to stage a rural soccer Event in Limpopo following Letwaba personally proposed that the grant be paid to his wife’s corporation.
GroundUp despatched questions to Stemmet through SMS but he had not replied by the time of publication.