“Pot” Stemmet faces fees above theft of Lottery-funded machines
“Pot” Stemmet faces fees above theft of Lottery-funded machines
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Richard “Pot” Stemmet, still left, and an investigator appointed with the National Lotteries Commission to analyze the Lottery-funded minstrel museum: Picture from an investigative report commissioned through the NLC
Richard “Pot” Stemmet is experiencing prosecution right after devices compensated for with funds from your Lottery was faraway from a Cape Town building he rented.
Stemmet is to appear in court docket in January.
According to a prosecutor the prison fees could include things like fraud, removal of kit that had been hooked up because of the Sheriff and interfering that has a Metropolis of Cape City electrical power meter.
The charges stem from a grievance laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who, inside a civil courtroom make a difference, is looking for to Recuperate around R2.five-million in unpaid rent, fascination, legal charges and harm to a rented building in Crete Road, in the economic area of Wetton in Cape Town.
The making was Beforehand the headquarters of the Cape City Minstrel Carnival Affiliation (CTMCA) and is also the place a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the town’s generations-previous minstrel lifestyle was supposedly working.
Convicted prison Richard “Pot” Stemmet is struggling with prosecution for theft and fraud immediately after tools compensated for with Lottery funds was removed from a Cape City building.
Stemmet was arrested through the Specialised Industrial Criminal offense Unit on sixteen Oct 2024 and informed to appear from the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on 21 November.
GroundUp attended court about the working day even so the matter was not put on the court docket roll as the investigating officer didn't produce the docket to prosecutors. Stemmet has now been summonsed to look in court docket in January.
The prison expenses stem from the criticism laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, that is looking for to Recuperate above R2.five-million in unpaid lease, desire, lawful expenses and damage to a rented constructing in Crete Highway, in the economic place of Wetton in Cape Town.
The constructing was Earlier the headquarters with the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Affiliation (CTMCA). This is when a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the city’s generations-previous minstrel lifestyle was supposedly running.
The premises also housed quite a few businesses owned by Stemmet, whom police have called a medications higher flier. Between the companies Stemmet ran with the premises had been a hat producing business and a nightclub. Stemmet has actually been arrested a number of periods for gun and drug-similar offences and served time for armed robbery within the nineteen eighties.
In accordance with an SMS sent to Meuwese through the investigating officer, Stemmet has now been summonsed to appear in court docket on thirty January 2025.
Even though Stemmet is yet to generally be offered that has a charge sheet, probable fees, consist of fraud, removing of equipment that had been attached via the Sheriff, and interfering that has a Metropolis of Cape Town electric power meter, As outlined by an email sent to Meuwese by a senior prosecutor managing the make a difference.
A grant of virtually R13-million to ascertain the minstrel museum was Element of greater than R64-million in Lottery money allocated to your CTMCA among 2003 and 2017, with the bulk of the money - above R54.three-million - paid out while in the 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 economic yrs, according to Countrywide Lotteries Commission (NLC) yearly reviews.
Stemmet was appointed a director of your CTMCA in September 1996 but resigned in December 2016. His wife Zainonesa and daughter Raziah ongoing หวย หุ้น ช่อง 9 as two of many administrators on the organisation. Stemmet was reappointed like a director in 2021.
Based on Meuwese, the building was leased to Stalph 164, an in depth Company of which Stemmet was among the administrators. The business was deregistered by the businesses and Intellectual House Fee (CIPC) in March 2023 for non-compliance in publishing annual stories.
A brand new entity While using the identical title was subsequently registered as A non-public company, but with Stemmet no longer a director, In line with CIPC data. In its place, a family member, Ra’ees Stemmet, and Alfonzo van Niekerk were appointed as directors.
Around the night of 12 April 2021 and into the following morning, the Crete Highway premises were being cleared along with the machinery was removed, according to an affidavit by Meuwese. The devices was moved to new premises rented by Stemmet in Mymoena Crescent inside the Athlone industrial region, which housed quite a few of Stemmet’s corporations as well as a new “minstrel museum”, according to a leaked investigative report commissioned because of the NLC. The investigator also photographed the machines at The brand new premises.
Even so, the intended new museum web page, like the old just one in Wetton, was well away from any of Cape City’s vacationer routes and guests could not access it. There was no signage on the building indicating that it housed a museum.
Stemmet’s enterprises vacated the premises previously this calendar year soon after he fell ill.
The funding to ascertain a museum wasn't the only lottery grant the CTMCA been given. In 2021, the association was allocated R100,000 and R1.five-million in Covid aid grants. The NLC at first refused to expose who experienced been given Covid funding but ultimately relented underneath media and parliamentary tension.
Other lottery grants allocated to non-earnings entities connected to Stemmet and his spouse and children and his associates include R1.four-million with the Cape Cultural Carnival and Occasions Committee in 2019/20, and a further R500,000 in 2021/22, Based on NLC annual experiences. Stemmet is usually a former director in the committee and his wife, Zainonesa, is presently a director.
And, the Peninsula and District Carnival Affiliation, and that is registered with the CTMCA’s former Crete Street offices, was allotted R190,000 in 2019/twenty, and an additional R635,000 in 2021/22 for a “craft, woodwork and style and design programme”. On the other hand, it appears that the 2021/22 payment was withheld following the NLC lifted questions about fantastic experiences connected with before funding received through the CTMCA.
GroundUp has confirmed the SIU is investigating the lottery funding gained via the CTMCA.
Also under investigation can be a R1-million payment because of the CTMCA to MDU Consulting Engineers, which consequently paid out R500,000 of this to legal professionals performing in the purchase of the R27-million mansion for previous NLC Board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
MDU also acted being a conduit for an additional R3-m payment by Zibsimanzi, an organization by which the spouse of former NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba was a director, in the direction of the acquisition of your mansion. Zibsimanzi acquired R4.8-million to stage a rural soccer Event in Limpopo immediately after Letwaba Individually encouraged that the grant be paid out to his spouse’s organization.
GroundUp despatched concerns to Stemmet by means of SMS but he experienced not replied by the time of publication.