“Pot” Stemmet faces prices over theft of Lottery-funded products
“Pot” Stemmet faces prices over theft of Lottery-funded products
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Richard “Pot” Stemmet, left, and an investigator appointed from the Nationwide Lotteries Fee to investigate the Lottery-funded minstrel museum: Photograph from an investigative report commissioned by the NLC
Richard “Pot” Stemmet is going through prosecution following tools paid out for with funds in the Lottery was removed from a Cape City setting up he rented.
Stemmet is to look in courtroom in January.
According to a prosecutor the criminal costs could include things like fraud, removing of apparatus that were connected via the Sheriff and interfering by using a City of Cape City electricity meter.
The costs stem from a criticism laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who, inside a civil court docket make any difference, is seeking to Get well in excess of R2.five-million in unpaid lease, interest, lawful prices and damage to a rented building in Crete Street, in the economic location of Wetton in Cape City.
The creating was Beforehand the headquarters of the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA) which is where by a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating town’s generations-previous minstrel lifestyle was supposedly working.
Convicted criminal Richard “Pot” Stemmet is going through prosecution for theft and fraud soon after gear paid for with Lottery resources was removed from a Cape City developing.
Stemmet was arrested by the Specialised Industrial Criminal offense Unit on 16 Oct 2024 and told to appear during the Wynberg Magistrate’s Courtroom on 21 November.
GroundUp attended courtroom over the day even so the make a difference was not placed on the courtroom 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, who is searching for to Recuperate above R2.5-million in unpaid hire, fascination, legal prices and damage to a rented building in Crete Street, in the economic spot of Wetton in Cape Town.
The constructing was previously the headquarters on the Cape City Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA). This is where a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the town’s generations-old minstrel tradition was supposedly working.
The premises also housed several organizations owned by Stemmet, whom police have referred to as a prescription drugs high flier. Amongst the businesses Stemmet ran through the premises ended up a hat production firm and also a nightclub. Stemmet has long been arrested quite a few periods for gun and drug-relevant offences and served time for armed robbery during the eighties.
In line with an SMS sent to Meuwese by the investigating officer, Stemmet has now been summonsed to seem in court docket on 30 January 2025.
While Stemmet is nevertheless to become introduced by using a charge sheet, doable expenses, consist of fraud, elimination of kit that had been connected through the Sheriff, and interfering which has a City of Cape Town energy meter, Based on an e mail despatched to Meuwese by a senior prosecutor managing the issue.
A grant of just about R13-million to determine the minstrel museum was part of in excess of R64-million in Lottery resources allotted on the CTMCA between 2003 and 2017, with the majority of the money - more than R54.3-million - paid from the 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 financial years, Based on National Lotteries Fee (NLC) annual experiences.
Stemmet was appointed a director on the CTMCA in September 1996 but resigned in December 2016. His spouse Zainonesa and daughter Raziah continued สลาก กิน as two of various administrators in the organisation. Stemmet was reappointed as being a director in 2021.
According to Meuwese, the setting up was leased to Stalph 164, an in depth corporation of which Stemmet was one of the administrators. The business was deregistered by the businesses and Intellectual Assets Commission (CIPC) in March 2023 for non-compliance in publishing annual stories.
A different entity Along with the exact same title was subsequently registered as A personal corporation, but with Stemmet no longer a director, As outlined by CIPC records. Alternatively, a relative, Ra’ees Stemmet, and Alfonzo van Niekerk were appointed as directors.
Within the evening of 12 April 2021 and into the subsequent morning, the Crete Road premises were cleared plus the machinery was taken out, In accordance with an affidavit by Meuwese. The tools was moved to new premises rented by Stemmet in Mymoena Crescent while in the Athlone industrial area, which housed several of Stemmet’s companies along with a new “minstrel museum”, In keeping with a leaked investigative report commissioned because of the NLC. The investigator also photographed the tools at The brand new premises.
Even so, the meant new museum internet site, just like the outdated 1 in Wetton, was very well far from any of Cape Town’s vacationer routes and guests could not entry it. There was no signage around the developing indicating that it housed a museum.
Stemmet’s companies vacated the premises earlier this yr right after he fell ill.
The funding to determine a museum was not the only real lottery grant the CTMCA obtained. In 2021, the association was allotted R100,000 and R1.5-million in Covid aid grants. The NLC to begin with refused to reveal who had obtained Covid funding but at last relented underneath media and parliamentary pressure.
Other lottery grants allocated to non-profit entities connected to Stemmet and his household and his associates consist of R1.4-million for that Cape Cultural Carnival and Occasions Committee in 2019/20, and an additional R500,000 in 2021/22, according to NLC annual reports. Stemmet can be a former director from the committee and his wife, Zainonesa, is currently a director.
And, the Peninsula and District Carnival Affiliation, that's registered with the CTMCA’s former Crete Street offices, was allotted R190,000 in 2019/20, and an additional R635,000 in 2021/22 to get a “craft, woodwork and structure programme”. Even so, it seems that the 2021/22 payment was withheld after the NLC elevated questions on excellent stories related to earlier funding obtained through the CTMCA.
GroundUp has confirmed the SIU is investigating the lottery funding acquired 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 attorneys acting in the acquisition of a R27-million mansion for previous NLC Board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
MDU also acted being a conduit for a further R3-m payment by Zibsimanzi, a corporation where the wife of previous NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba was a director, towards the acquisition from the mansion. Zibsimanzi gained R4.eight-million to stage a rural soccer Match in Limpopo after Letwaba personally proposed that the grant be paid to his wife’s corporation.
GroundUp despatched concerns to Stemmet by means of SMS but he experienced not replied by the time of publication.