“Pot” Stemmet faces charges more than theft of Lottery-funded devices
“Pot” Stemmet faces charges more than theft of Lottery-funded devices
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Richard “Pot” Stemmet, left, and an investigator appointed by the Countrywide Lotteries Commission to analyze the Lottery-funded minstrel museum: Photo from an investigative report commissioned by the NLC
Richard “Pot” Stemmet is facing prosecution after devices paid for with funds with the Lottery was faraway from a Cape Town creating he rented.
Stemmet is to seem in court in January.
In accordance with a prosecutor the criminal charges could contain fraud, removing of apparatus that were connected from the Sheriff and interfering having a Town of Cape City electric power meter.
The charges stem from a grievance laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who, inside a civil courtroom subject, is in search of to Get better over R2.five-million in unpaid rent, interest, legal fees and damage to a rented constructing in Crete Street, in the economic space of Wetton in Cape City.
The making was Earlier the headquarters in the Cape City Minstrel Carnival Affiliation (CTMCA) and is also exactly where a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating town’s hundreds of years-old minstrel lifestyle was supposedly working.
Convicted prison Richard “Pot” Stemmet is going through prosecution for theft and fraud following machines paid for with Lottery cash was faraway from a Cape City creating.
Stemmet was arrested because of the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit on 16 October 2024 and instructed to appear inside the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on 21 November.
GroundUp attended court within the day though the matter was not placed on the court roll as the investigating officer didn't supply the docket to prosecutors. Stemmet has now been summonsed to appear in court in January.
The criminal costs stem from the grievance laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, that is seeking to Get better more than R2.five-million in unpaid hire, fascination, authorized charges and damage to a rented building in Crete Highway, in the economic area of Wetton in Cape City.
The setting up was Formerly the headquarters in the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Affiliation (CTMCA). This is where a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating town’s centuries-outdated minstrel tradition was supposedly functioning.
The premises also housed many corporations owned by Stemmet, whom police have called a medicine higher flier. Among the the businesses Stemmet ran within the premises had been a hat production corporation along with a nightclub. Stemmet has become arrested quite a few occasions for gun and drug-connected offences and served time for armed robbery inside the 1980s.
Based on an SMS despatched to Meuwese via the investigating officer, Stemmet has now been summonsed to seem in court on thirty January 2025.
Despite the fact that Stemmet is nevertheless to become offered using a demand sheet, doable costs, involve fraud, removal of equipment that had been connected with the Sheriff, and interfering which has a City of Cape Town electrical power meter, In keeping with an electronic mail despatched to Meuwese by a senior prosecutor dealing with the issue.
A grant of virtually R13-million to ascertain the minstrel museum was Portion of a lot more than R64-million in Lottery money allocated towards the CTMCA among 2003 and 2017, with the bulk of the money - over R54.three-million - paid out inside the 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 financial years, according to Nationwide Lotteries Fee (NLC) annual reviews.
Stemmet was appointed a director of your CTMCA in September 1996 but resigned in December 2016. His wife Zainonesa and daughter Raziah ongoing fox888 as two of many directors with the organisation. Stemmet was reappointed being a director in 2021.
In line with 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 Mental House Fee (CIPC) in March 2023 for non-compliance in submitting yearly studies.
A new entity with the very same title was subsequently registered as A personal enterprise, but with Stemmet no longer a director, In line with CIPC data. In its place, a relative, Ra’ees Stemmet, and Alfonzo van Niekerk were being appointed as directors.
Over the evening of 12 April 2021 and into the following early morning, the Crete Highway premises have been cleared along with the machinery was eliminated, Based on an affidavit by Meuwese. The gear was moved to new premises rented by Stemmet in Mymoena Crescent from the Athlone industrial space, which housed various of Stemmet’s firms and a new “minstrel museum”, As outlined by a leaked investigative report commissioned from the NLC. The investigator also photographed the equipment at the new premises.
On the other hand, the meant new museum website, much like the outdated a person in Wetton, was well away from any of Cape Town’s vacationer routes and guests couldn't obtain it. There was no signage over the building indicating that it housed a museum.
Stemmet’s businesses vacated the premises before this 12 months soon after he fell sick.
The funding to establish a museum wasn't the sole lottery grant which the CTMCA acquired. In 2021, the Affiliation was allotted R100,000 and R1.5-million in Covid reduction grants. The NLC at first refused to reveal who experienced been given Covid funding but ultimately relented underneath media and parliamentary tension.
Other lottery grants allocated to non-revenue entities connected to Stemmet and his relatives and his associates include R1.4-million to the 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 usually a previous director on the committee and his wife, Zainonesa, is presently a director.
And, the Peninsula and District Carnival Affiliation, which happens to be registered for the CTMCA’s former Crete Highway workplaces, was allotted R190,000 in 2019/20, and an extra R635,000 in 2021/22 for a “craft, woodwork and style and design programme”. Even so, it appears that the 2021/22 payment was withheld following the NLC elevated questions on excellent experiences connected with before funding received with the CTMCA.
GroundUp has verified the SIU is investigating the lottery funding been given from the CTMCA.
Also beneath investigation can be a R1-million payment via 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, an organization by which the wife of previous NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba was a director, in the direction of the acquisition with the mansion. Zibsimanzi obtained R4.eight-million to phase a rural soccer Match in Limpopo right after Letwaba Individually advisable which the grant be paid to his wife’s business.
GroundUp sent issues to Stemmet via SMS but he had not replied by the time of publication.