“Pot” Stemmet faces charges above theft of Lottery-funded equipment
“Pot” Stemmet faces charges above theft of Lottery-funded equipment
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Richard “Pot” Stemmet, still left, and an investigator appointed because of the Nationwide Lotteries Fee to analyze the Lottery-funded minstrel museum: Photograph from an investigative report commissioned via the NLC
Richard “Pot” Stemmet is going through prosecution soon after machines compensated for with money from the Lottery was removed from a Cape Town setting up he rented.
Stemmet is to appear in court in January.
Based on a prosecutor the felony prices could include fraud, removing of apparatus that had been hooked up via the Sheriff and interfering which has a Metropolis of Cape Town electricity meter.
The charges stem from the complaint laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who, inside a civil court docket issue, is in search of to Get better in excess of R2.five-million in unpaid hire, interest, authorized expenditures and harm to a rented developing in Crete Road, in the commercial place of Wetton in Cape City.
The building was previously the headquarters on the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA) and it is in which a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the city’s centuries-aged minstrel lifestyle was supposedly running.
Convicted legal Richard “Pot” Stemmet is experiencing prosecution for theft and fraud after gear paid for with Lottery funds was faraway from a Cape Town creating.
Stemmet was arrested from the Specialised Commercial Crime Device on 16 Oct 2024 and advised to seem inside the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court docket on 21 November.
GroundUp attended courtroom to the day nevertheless the matter wasn't put on the courtroom roll as the investigating officer did not deliver the docket to prosecutors. Stemmet has now been summonsed to appear in courtroom in January.
The felony fees stem from a criticism laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who is seeking to Get better above R2.five-million in unpaid hire, desire, lawful fees and harm to a rented setting up in Crete Road, in the industrial place of Wetton in Cape City.
The building was Beforehand the headquarters with the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Affiliation (CTMCA). This is where a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the city’s hundreds of years-old minstrel lifestyle was supposedly operating.
The premises also housed many firms owned by Stemmet, whom law enforcement have referred to as a medication superior flier. Amongst the businesses Stemmet ran through the premises were a hat manufacturing company plus a nightclub. Stemmet has been arrested a number of occasions for gun and drug-related offences and served time for armed theft during the nineteen eighties.
Based on an SMS despatched to Meuwese by the investigating officer, Stemmet has now been summonsed to look in courtroom on thirty January 2025.
Whilst Stemmet is however to be offered using a charge sheet, possible fees, consist of fraud, elimination of equipment that had been hooked up through the Sheriff, and interfering using a Town of Cape City electrical power meter, Based on an electronic mail sent to Meuwese by a senior prosecutor handling the make any difference.
A grant of almost R13-million to establish the minstrel museum was Component of greater than R64-million in Lottery money allocated on the CTMCA involving 2003 and 2017, with the majority of the money - more than R54.3-million - compensated from the 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 economical years, Based on Countrywide Lotteries Commission (NLC) once-a-year studies.
Stemmet was appointed a director on the CTMCA in September 1996 but resigned in December 2016. His spouse Zainonesa and daughter Raziah continued หวย หุ้น ช่อง 9 วัน นี้ as two of several administrators with the organisation. Stemmet was reappointed like a director in 2021.
In line with Meuwese, the creating was leased to Stalph 164, a detailed corporation of which Stemmet was amongst the directors. The corporate was deregistered by the businesses and Intellectual House Fee (CIPC) in March 2023 for non-compliance in publishing annual experiences.
A whole new entity with the very same title was subsequently registered as A personal enterprise, but with Stemmet no longer a director, In accordance with CIPC data. As a substitute, a loved one, Ra’ees Stemmet, and Alfonzo van Niekerk ended up appointed as directors.
Around the evening of twelve April 2021 and into the subsequent morning, the Crete Road premises were cleared as well as the machinery was eradicated, according to an affidavit by Meuwese. The equipment was moved to new premises rented by Stemmet in Mymoena Crescent from the Athlone industrial spot, which housed a number of of Stemmet’s enterprises and also a new “minstrel museum”, In accordance with a leaked investigative report commissioned because of the NLC. The investigator also photographed the gear at the new premises.
On the other hand, the meant new museum web page, like the old one particular in Wetton, was perfectly clear of any of Cape City’s tourist routes and website visitors could not access it. There was no signage about the setting up indicating that it housed a museum.
Stemmet’s firms vacated the premises previously this calendar year after he fell unwell.
The funding to ascertain a museum wasn't the only lottery grant which the CTMCA been given. In 2021, the association was allotted R100,000 and R1.5-million in Covid relief grants. The NLC initially refused to reveal who experienced been given Covid funding but eventually relented under media and parliamentary strain.
Other lottery grants allotted to non-financial gain entities associated with Stemmet and his family members and his associates include things like R1.four-million to the Cape Cultural Carnival and Gatherings Committee in 2019/twenty, and an additional R500,000 in 2021/22, In keeping with NLC yearly studies. Stemmet is usually a previous director in the committee and his wife, Zainonesa, is now a director.
And, the Peninsula and District Carnival Affiliation, which can be registered in the CTMCA’s former Crete Street offices, was allotted R190,000 in 2019/20, and an extra R635,000 in 2021/22 for your “craft, woodwork and style and design programme”. Even so, it seems that the 2021/22 payment was withheld after the NLC elevated questions on exceptional experiences associated with previously funding gained via the CTMCA.
GroundUp has verified which the SIU is investigating the lottery funding received through the CTMCA.
Also beneath investigation is actually a R1-million payment with the CTMCA to MDU Consulting Engineers, which subsequently paid out R500,000 of this to legal professionals performing in the purchase of a R27-million mansion for previous NLC Board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
MDU also acted for a conduit for an additional R3-m payment by Zibsimanzi, an organization during which the wife of previous NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba was a director, toward the purchase of the mansion. Zibsimanzi gained R4.8-million to stage a rural soccer Event in Limpopo soon after Letwaba Individually advised which the grant be paid to his wife’s enterprise.
GroundUp sent inquiries to Stemmet via SMS but he had not replied by the time of publication.