“Pot” Stemmet faces charges over theft of Lottery-funded products
“Pot” Stemmet faces charges over theft of Lottery-funded products
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Richard “Pot” Stemmet, left, and an investigator appointed with the Countrywide Lotteries Commission to investigate the Lottery-funded minstrel museum: Photo from an investigative report commissioned through the NLC
Richard “Pot” Stemmet is struggling with prosecution following gear compensated for with cash through the Lottery was removed from a Cape City constructing he rented.
Stemmet is to appear in court docket in January.
In line with a prosecutor the criminal prices could incorporate fraud, removing of equipment that had been connected with the Sheriff and interfering which has a City of Cape Town electrical energy meter.
The charges stem from the grievance laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who, in a very civil courtroom make a difference, is in search of to recover over R2.5-million in unpaid rent, fascination, authorized fees and damage to a rented making in Crete Road, in the commercial area of Wetton in Cape City.
The developing was Beforehand the headquarters of your Cape City Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA) and it is in which a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the town’s hundreds of years-outdated minstrel tradition was supposedly working.
Convicted legal Richard “Pot” Stemmet is dealing with prosecution for theft and fraud following gear paid for with Lottery cash was faraway from a Cape Town setting up.
Stemmet was arrested through the Specialised Business Criminal offense Device on 16 October 2024 and advised to look in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on 21 November.
GroundUp attended court about the day although the subject wasn't placed on the court roll as the investigating officer didn't supply the docket to prosecutors. Stemmet has now been summonsed to seem in court in January.
The prison prices stem from a complaint laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, that's trying to find to Recuperate more than R2.five-million in unpaid rent, desire, legal prices and damage to a rented building in Crete Street, in the economic spot of Wetton in Cape City.
The creating was Beforehand the headquarters from the Cape City Minstrel Carnival Affiliation (CTMCA). This is when a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the city’s centuries-previous minstrel lifestyle was supposedly functioning.
The premises also housed a number of firms owned by Stemmet, whom law enforcement have referred to as a prescription drugs superior flier. Among the businesses Stemmet ran in the premises had been a hat manufacturing company in addition to a nightclub. Stemmet has long been arrested quite a few moments for gun and drug-connected offences and served time for armed theft from the 1980s.
Based on an SMS despatched to Meuwese from the investigating officer, Stemmet has now been summonsed to seem in court docket on 30 January 2025.
While Stemmet is however being introduced using a cost sheet, possible expenses, include things like fraud, removing of kit that were hooked up by the Sheriff, and interfering using a Metropolis of Cape Town electrical energy meter, In accordance with an e-mail sent to Meuwese by a senior prosecutor managing the subject.
A grant of virtually R13-million to ascertain the minstrel museum was A part of more than R64-million in Lottery resources allocated to the CTMCA involving 2003 and 2017, with the bulk of The cash - more than R54.three-million - paid from the 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 economic decades, In line with Countrywide Lotteries Commission (NLC) annual stories.
Stemmet was appointed a director of your CTMCA in September 1996 but resigned in December 2016. His wife Zainonesa and daughter Raziah continued ตรวจ หวย as two of numerous administrators on the organisation. Stemmet was reappointed as a director in 2021.
In keeping with Meuwese, the creating was leased to Stalph 164, a detailed Company of which Stemmet was among the administrators. The company was deregistered by the Companies and Intellectual Home Commission (CIPC) in March 2023 for non-compliance in distributing yearly studies.
A completely new entity with the exact same name was subsequently registered as A personal enterprise, but with Stemmet now not a director, In keeping with CIPC data. As a substitute, a loved one, Ra’ees Stemmet, and Alfonzo van Niekerk had been appointed as administrators.
About the evening of 12 April 2021 and into the subsequent morning, the Crete Highway premises had been cleared and the machinery was eradicated, In line with an affidavit by Meuwese. The equipment was moved to new premises rented by Stemmet in Mymoena Crescent while in the Athlone industrial area, which housed numerous of Stemmet’s enterprises along with a new “minstrel museum”, In line with a leaked investigative report commissioned because of the NLC. The investigator also photographed the machines at The brand new premises.
However, the meant new museum site, like the aged a person in Wetton, was perfectly clear of any of Cape Town’s tourist routes and readers couldn't access it. There was no signage on the making indicating that it housed a museum.
Stemmet’s firms vacated the premises before this yr after he fell sick.
The funding to determine a museum wasn't the sole 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 Gatherings 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 of your 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/twenty, and an extra R635,000 in 2021/22 for any “craft, woodwork and structure programme”. Nonetheless, it seems that the 2021/22 payment was withheld once the NLC lifted questions on excellent studies relevant to before funding been given by the CTMCA.
GroundUp has verified which the SIU is investigating the lottery funding gained via the CTMCA.
Also less than investigation is usually 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 like a conduit for an extra R3-m payment by Zibsimanzi, a firm during which the spouse of former NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba was a director, to the purchase with the mansion. Zibsimanzi obtained R4.eight-million to phase a rural soccer tournament in Limpopo soon after Letwaba Individually suggested the grant be paid out to his spouse’s company.
GroundUp sent queries to Stemmet by means of SMS but he experienced not replied by the point of publication.