“Pot” Stemmet faces prices over theft of Lottery-funded tools
“Pot” Stemmet faces prices over theft of Lottery-funded tools
Blog Article
Richard “Pot” Stemmet, remaining, and an investigator appointed through the Nationwide Lotteries Commission to analyze the Lottery-funded minstrel museum: Photo from an investigative report commissioned because of the NLC
Richard “Pot” Stemmet is struggling with prosecution right after equipment compensated for with money in the Lottery was faraway from a Cape Town making he rented.
Stemmet is to appear in court docket in January.
In accordance with a prosecutor the prison rates could include fraud, removing of apparatus that had been connected through the Sheriff and interfering using a Metropolis of Cape Town electricity meter.
The fees stem from the complaint laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who, within a civil court matter, is seeking to Recuperate around R2.5-million in unpaid hire, interest, authorized costs and damage to a rented building in Crete Road, in the economic place of Wetton in Cape Town.
The making was previously the headquarters of your Cape City Minstrel Carnival Affiliation (CTMCA) and is also where by a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the city’s centuries-outdated minstrel society was supposedly functioning.
Convicted prison Richard “Pot” Stemmet is dealing with prosecution for theft and fraud after equipment paid for with Lottery funds was faraway from a Cape Town making.
Stemmet was arrested because of the Specialised Business Crime Device on sixteen October 2024 and told to look inside the Wynberg Magistrate’s Courtroom on 21 November.
GroundUp attended courtroom within the day nevertheless the make a difference wasn't placed on the court docket roll because the investigating officer did not deliver the docket to prosecutors. Stemmet has now been summonsed to appear in court docket in January.
The legal rates stem from the criticism laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, that is looking for to Recuperate over R2.5-million in unpaid rent, curiosity, lawful expenses and damage to a rented setting up in Crete Road, in the industrial region of Wetton in Cape City.
The constructing was Formerly the headquarters of the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Affiliation (CTMCA). This is where a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating town’s centuries-aged minstrel tradition was supposedly working.
The premises also housed several enterprises owned by Stemmet, whom law enforcement have described as a medicines higher flier. Among the the businesses Stemmet ran within the premises were a hat manufacturing corporation as well as a nightclub. Stemmet has become arrested various periods for gun and drug-related offences and served time for armed robbery within the 1980s.
Based on an SMS sent to Meuwese through the investigating officer, Stemmet has now been summonsed to seem in court on thirty January 2025.
While Stemmet is nonetheless being presented by using a charge sheet, doable fees, include things like fraud, removal of apparatus that had been hooked up through the Sheriff, and interfering with a City of Cape Town electric power meter, In accordance with an e mail despatched to Meuwese by a senior prosecutor dealing with the make any difference.
A grant of just about R13-million to establish the minstrel museum was Section of greater than R64-million in Lottery cash allotted to the CTMCA among 2003 and 2017, with the bulk of the money - above R54.3-million - paid while in the 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 money years, Based on Countrywide Lotteries Commission (NLC) annual reports.
Stemmet was appointed a director of the CTMCA in September 1996 but resigned in December 2016. His wife Zainonesa and daughter Raziah continued ผล หวย as two of various directors of your organisation. Stemmet was reappointed being a director in 2021.
In accordance with Meuwese, the building was leased to Stalph 164, an in depth Company of which Stemmet was certainly one of the directors. The corporation was deregistered by the Companies and Intellectual Home Fee (CIPC) in March 2023 for non-compliance in publishing once-a-year studies.
A completely new entity Using the identical name was subsequently registered as A non-public corporation, but with Stemmet now not a director, according to CIPC records. Instead, a family member, Ra’ees Stemmet, and Alfonzo van Niekerk were appointed as administrators.
Over the evening of twelve April 2021 and into the subsequent morning, the Crete Street premises had been cleared and the machinery was eliminated, according to an affidavit by Meuwese. The devices was moved to new premises rented by Stemmet in Mymoena Crescent while in the Athlone industrial area, which housed many of Stemmet’s businesses as well as a new “minstrel museum”, according to a leaked investigative report commissioned through the NLC. The investigator also photographed the devices at The brand new premises.
However, the meant new museum website, such as the previous a single in Wetton, was very well faraway from any of Cape Town’s tourist routes and guests couldn't obtain it. There was no signage to the making indicating that it housed a museum.
Stemmet’s firms vacated the premises earlier this calendar year immediately after he fell ill.
The funding to determine a museum was not the one lottery grant that the CTMCA been given. In 2021, the association was allotted R100,000 and R1.5-million in Covid relief grants. The NLC to begin with refused to expose who had acquired Covid funding but finally relented beneath media and parliamentary pressure.
Other lottery grants allocated to non-revenue entities connected to Stemmet and his relatives and his associates involve R1.four-million for the Cape Cultural Carnival and Occasions Committee in 2019/20, and an extra R500,000 in 2021/22, Based on NLC annual reports. Stemmet is a previous director on the committee and his wife, Zainonesa, is now a director.
And, the Peninsula and District Carnival Association, that is registered within the CTMCA’s former Crete Highway offices, was allocated R190,000 in 2019/twenty, and a further R635,000 in 2021/22 for just a “craft, woodwork and design and style programme”. Nevertheless, it seems that the 2021/22 payment was withheld once the NLC raised questions about superb reviews 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 is really a R1-million payment through the CTMCA to MDU Consulting Engineers, which in turn 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 for a conduit for an additional R3-m payment by Zibsimanzi, an organization in which the spouse of previous NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba was a director, toward the purchase of your mansion. Zibsimanzi acquired R4.eight-million to stage a rural soccer Match in Limpopo after Letwaba personally encouraged that the grant be paid to his wife’s corporation.
GroundUp despatched inquiries to Stemmet via SMS but he had not replied by the time of publication.