“Pot” Stemmet faces costs above theft of Lottery-funded machines
“Pot” Stemmet faces costs above theft of Lottery-funded machines
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Richard “Pot” Stemmet, left, and an investigator appointed through the Nationwide Lotteries Commission to analyze the Lottery-funded minstrel museum: Picture from an investigative report commissioned through the NLC
Richard “Pot” Stemmet is going through prosecution immediately after gear paid for with cash in the Lottery was removed from a Cape Town setting up he rented.
Stemmet is to appear in court in January.
In keeping with a prosecutor the prison costs could incorporate fraud, elimination of apparatus that were connected through the Sheriff and interfering by using a City of Cape City electricity meter.
The fees stem from a criticism laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who, inside a civil court matter, is in search of to Get well more than R2.5-million in unpaid hire, interest, lawful expenditures and damage to a rented making in Crete Highway, in the industrial place of Wetton in Cape Town.
The building was Earlier the headquarters of the Cape City Minstrel Carnival Affiliation (CTMCA) which is where by a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating town’s generations-aged minstrel society was supposedly operating.
Convicted prison Richard “Pot” Stemmet is dealing with prosecution for theft and fraud immediately after equipment paid out for with Lottery funds was faraway from a Cape Town making.
Stemmet was arrested from the Specialised Professional Crime Device on 16 Oct 2024 and instructed to appear within the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court docket on 21 November.
GroundUp attended court about the working day however the subject wasn't put on the courtroom roll as the investigating officer didn't provide the docket to prosecutors. Stemmet has now been summonsed to appear in court in January.
The legal fees stem from the criticism laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, that's seeking to recover above R2.five-million in unpaid hire, desire, authorized expenses and damage to a rented creating in Crete Street, in the commercial region of Wetton in Cape Town.
The setting up was Earlier the headquarters with the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Affiliation (CTMCA). This is where a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating town’s centuries-outdated minstrel culture was supposedly functioning.
The premises also housed many businesses owned by Stemmet, whom police have referred to as a drugs significant flier. Among the businesses Stemmet ran with the premises were a hat manufacturing enterprise along with a nightclub. Stemmet has actually been arrested numerous moments for gun and drug-linked offences and served time for armed theft from the eighties.
In keeping with an SMS despatched to Meuwese with the investigating officer, Stemmet has now been summonsed to seem in court on thirty January 2025.
While Stemmet is nonetheless to be offered using a charge sheet, attainable costs, consist of fraud, removing of equipment that had been attached because of the Sheriff, and interfering having a Metropolis of Cape Town energy meter, In line with an e mail sent to Meuwese by a senior prosecutor dealing with the issue.
A grant of virtually R13-million to establish the minstrel museum was A part of greater than R64-million in Lottery funds allotted into the CTMCA involving 2003 and 2017, with the bulk of The cash - about R54.three-million - compensated while in the 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 economic years, In keeping with National Lotteries Fee (NLC) once-a-year studies.
Stemmet was appointed a director of the CTMCA in September 1996 but resigned in December 2016. His wife Zainonesa and daughter Raziah ongoing lottovip as two of various directors on the organisation. Stemmet was reappointed as a director in 2021.
In keeping with Meuwese, the constructing was leased to Stalph 164, a detailed corporation of which Stemmet was one among the administrators. The organization was deregistered by the businesses and Mental Property Commission (CIPC) in March 2023 for non-compliance in distributing yearly stories.
A brand new entity With all the very same title was subsequently registered as A non-public firm, but with Stemmet not a director, In line with CIPC data. As a substitute, a member of the family, Ra’ees Stemmet, and Alfonzo van Niekerk have been appointed as directors.
Within the night of 12 April 2021 and into the following early morning, the Crete Street premises had been cleared and also the equipment was taken out, according to an affidavit by Meuwese. The machines was moved to new premises rented by Stemmet in Mymoena Crescent during the Athlone industrial location, which housed quite a few of Stemmet’s firms and a new “minstrel museum”, In keeping with a leaked investigative report commissioned with the NLC. The investigator also photographed the machines at The brand new premises.
Nonetheless, the intended new museum internet site, much like the outdated just one in Wetton, was properly from any of Cape Town’s vacationer routes and visitors could not obtain it. There was no signage on the setting up indicating that it housed a museum.
Stemmet’s businesses vacated the premises earlier this calendar year after he fell sick.
The funding to establish a museum wasn't the only lottery grant which the CTMCA acquired. In 2021, the Affiliation was allocated R100,000 and R1.5-million in Covid reduction grants. The NLC at first refused to reveal who experienced received Covid funding but finally relented below media and parliamentary strain.
Other lottery grants allotted to non-profit entities connected to Stemmet and his relatives and his associates consist of R1.4-million with the Cape Cultural Carnival and Occasions Committee in 2019/20, and an extra R500,000 in 2021/22, according to NLC once-a-year experiences. Stemmet is a previous director of your committee and his wife, Zainonesa, is at the moment a director.
And, the Peninsula and District Carnival Association, which can be registered in the CTMCA’s previous Crete Highway offices, was allocated R190,000 in 2019/twenty, and a further R635,000 in 2021/22 for any “craft, woodwork and layout programme”. Nonetheless, it seems that the 2021/22 payment was withheld after the NLC elevated questions on outstanding experiences relevant to earlier funding gained by the CTMCA.
GroundUp has confirmed that the SIU is investigating the lottery funding acquired because of the CTMCA.
Also less than investigation is really a R1-million payment through the CTMCA to MDU Consulting Engineers, which in turn paid R500,000 of the to attorneys acting in the purchase of the R27-million mansion for former NLC Board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
MDU also acted like a conduit for a further R3-m payment by Zibsimanzi, a company wherein the spouse of previous NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba was a director, in direction of the purchase in the mansion. Zibsimanzi received R4.eight-million to phase a rural soccer tournament in Limpopo following Letwaba Individually recommended the grant be compensated to his spouse’s firm.
GroundUp despatched questions to Stemmet by means of SMS but he experienced not replied by the point of publication.