“Pot” Stemmet faces rates over theft of Lottery-funded devices
“Pot” Stemmet faces rates over theft of Lottery-funded devices
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Richard “Pot” Stemmet, still left, and an investigator appointed via the Nationwide Lotteries Fee to analyze the Lottery-funded minstrel museum: Photo from an investigative report commissioned via the NLC
Richard “Pot” Stemmet is struggling with prosecution immediately after tools compensated for with resources in the Lottery was removed from a Cape City setting up he rented.
Stemmet is to appear in court docket in January.
Based on a prosecutor the legal expenses could contain fraud, removal of apparatus that had been connected from the Sheriff and interfering with a Town of Cape City energy meter.
The charges stem from a criticism laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who, within a civil courtroom matter, is trying to find to recover above R2.five-million in unpaid hire, desire, lawful expenses and damage to a rented making in Crete Highway, in the industrial spot of Wetton in Cape City.
The constructing was Beforehand the headquarters with the Cape City Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA) and is also the place a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the town’s centuries-aged minstrel tradition was supposedly operating.
Convicted prison Richard “Pot” Stemmet is experiencing prosecution for theft and fraud immediately after tools paid for with Lottery cash was removed from a Cape City setting up.
Stemmet was arrested with the Specialised Professional Criminal offense Unit on 16 Oct 2024 and instructed to seem while in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on 21 November.
GroundUp attended court docket to the day though the issue wasn't placed on the courtroom roll as the investigating officer did not produce the docket to prosecutors. Stemmet has now been summonsed to appear in courtroom in January.
The felony costs stem from a grievance laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, that is looking for to Recuperate in excess of R2.5-million in unpaid hire, curiosity, legal prices and harm to a rented creating in Crete Street, in the commercial spot of Wetton in Cape City.
The creating was Earlier the headquarters with the Cape City Minstrel Carnival Affiliation (CTMCA). This is where a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating town’s hundreds of years-outdated minstrel lifestyle was supposedly working.
The premises also housed various enterprises owned by Stemmet, whom police have described as a medicines higher flier. Among the the businesses Stemmet ran from the premises have been a hat producing firm as well as a nightclub. Stemmet has been arrested numerous periods for gun and drug-similar offences and served time for armed robbery from the 1980s.
As outlined by 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 yet for being presented using a charge sheet, achievable rates, involve fraud, elimination of equipment that were attached by the Sheriff, and interfering by using a Town of Cape City electrical energy meter, Based on an e mail despatched to Meuwese by a senior prosecutor handling the issue.
A grant of virtually R13-million to ascertain the minstrel museum was Section of much more than R64-million in Lottery resources allotted on the CTMCA concerning 2003 and 2017, with the bulk of The cash - about R54.3-million - paid out inside the 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 monetary decades, As outlined by National Lotteries Commission (NLC) yearly reports.
Stemmet was appointed a director with the CTMCA in September 1996 but resigned in December 2016. His wife Zainonesa and daughter Raziah continued หวย รัฐบาล as two of numerous directors with the organisation. Stemmet was reappointed like a director in 2021.
According to Meuwese, the constructing was leased to Stalph 164, a detailed corporation of which Stemmet was amongst the directors. The business was deregistered by the businesses and Mental Property Commission (CIPC) in March 2023 for non-compliance in distributing yearly stories.
A different entity Together with the exact name was subsequently registered as a private organization, but with Stemmet no more a director, In keeping with CIPC documents. In its place, a relative, Ra’ees Stemmet, and Alfonzo van Niekerk ended up appointed as directors.
On the night of 12 April 2021 and into the subsequent morning, the Crete Road premises were being cleared and the equipment was taken off, In line with an affidavit by Meuwese. The gear was moved to new premises rented by Stemmet in Mymoena Crescent in the Athlone industrial place, which housed numerous 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 equipment at the new premises.
On the other hand, the supposed new museum website, similar to the aged one in Wetton, was effectively from any of Cape Town’s vacationer routes and people couldn't obtain it. There was no signage over the building indicating that it housed a museum.
Stemmet’s companies vacated the premises before this calendar year following he fell ill.
The funding to determine a museum was not the only real lottery grant the CTMCA acquired. In 2021, the Affiliation was allocated R100,000 and R1.five-million in Covid reduction grants. The NLC to begin with refused to reveal who had acquired Covid funding but last but not least relented under media and parliamentary strain.
Other lottery grants allotted to non-revenue entities connected to Stemmet and his loved ones and his associates include R1.4-million for your Cape Cultural Carnival and Gatherings Committee in 2019/twenty, and an additional R500,000 in 2021/22, In keeping with NLC once-a-year experiences. Stemmet is a previous director from the committee and his spouse, Zainonesa, is currently a director.
And, the Peninsula and District Carnival Affiliation, and that is registered within the CTMCA’s previous Crete Street offices, was allotted R190,000 in 2019/20, and an additional R635,000 in 2021/22 for any “craft, woodwork and layout programme”. Even so, it appears that the 2021/22 payment was withheld once the NLC lifted questions about superb experiences relevant to earlier funding gained from the CTMCA.
GroundUp has confirmed the SIU is investigating the lottery funding been given from the CTMCA.
Also beneath investigation is often a R1-million payment by the CTMCA to MDU Consulting Engineers, which consequently paid out R500,000 of this to lawyers performing in the acquisition 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, an organization through which the wife of previous NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba was a director, toward the purchase in the mansion. Zibsimanzi gained R4.8-million to phase a rural soccer Event in Limpopo following Letwaba Individually advised which the grant be paid to his wife’s business.
GroundUp despatched concerns to Stemmet by means of SMS but he experienced not replied by the time of publication.