“Pot” Stemmet faces prices over theft of Lottery-funded products
“Pot” Stemmet faces prices over theft of Lottery-funded products
Blog Article
Richard “Pot” Stemmet, left, and an investigator appointed because of the National Lotteries Commission to research the Lottery-funded minstrel museum: Picture from an investigative report commissioned via the NLC
Richard “Pot” Stemmet is experiencing prosecution soon after devices paid out for with money in the Lottery was faraway from a Cape Town creating he rented.
Stemmet is to look in courtroom in January.
In line with a prosecutor the prison prices could incorporate fraud, removing of apparatus that were hooked up through the Sheriff and interfering with a Metropolis of Cape Town energy meter.
The charges stem from a grievance laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who, in a very civil court docket matter, is in search of to Get better around R2.5-million in unpaid lease, interest, legal costs and damage to a rented constructing in Crete Street, in the commercial spot of Wetton in Cape Town.
The making 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 city’s generations-previous minstrel culture was supposedly functioning.
Convicted legal Richard “Pot” Stemmet is going through prosecution for theft and fraud soon after gear compensated for with Lottery money was faraway from a Cape Town making.
Stemmet was arrested from the Specialised Business Criminal offense Unit on 16 October 2024 and told to seem during the Wynberg Justice of the peace’s Court on 21 November.
GroundUp attended court within the day even so the make any difference wasn't put on the courtroom roll since the investigating officer did not deliver the docket to prosecutors. Stemmet has now been summonsed to seem in courtroom in January.
The felony rates stem from the complaint laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who is seeking to Get better around R2.5-million in unpaid rent, fascination, authorized fees and harm to a rented constructing in Crete Road, in the commercial region of Wetton in Cape City.
The creating was Beforehand the headquarters on the Cape City Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA). This is when a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the city’s centuries-previous minstrel society was supposedly working.
The premises also housed quite a few organizations owned by Stemmet, whom police have referred to as a medicine high flier. Among the companies Stemmet ran from your premises have been a hat manufacturing business plus a nightclub. Stemmet has long been arrested quite a few situations for gun and drug-linked offences and served time for armed theft while in the 1980s.
According to an SMS despatched to Meuwese because of the investigating officer, Stemmet has now been summonsed to appear in courtroom on thirty January 2025.
Though Stemmet is yet being presented with a demand sheet, doable expenses, consist of fraud, removing of equipment that had been attached because of the Sheriff, and interfering having a City of Cape Town electric power meter, In line with an electronic mail despatched to Meuwese by a senior prosecutor managing the matter.
A grant of virtually R13-million to establish the minstrel museum was Section of greater than R64-million in Lottery funds allotted into the CTMCA in between 2003 and 2017, with the majority of the money - more than R54.3-million - compensated during the 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 economical years, Based on National Lotteries Fee (NLC) annual reviews.
Stemmet was appointed a director of your CTMCA in September 1996 but resigned in December 2016. His spouse Zainonesa and daughter Raziah continued ตรวจ หวย ล่าสุด as two of various directors of the organisation. Stemmet was reappointed for a director in 2021.
As outlined by Meuwese, the creating was leased to Stalph 164, a detailed corporation of which Stemmet was among the directors. The organization was deregistered by the Companies and Mental Property Commission (CIPC) in March 2023 for non-compliance in distributing once-a-year experiences.
A brand new entity Along with the same identify was subsequently registered as a private business, but with Stemmet not a director, In line with CIPC data. Alternatively, a member of the family, Ra’ees Stemmet, and Alfonzo van Niekerk have been appointed as administrators.
To the evening of 12 April 2021 and into the next morning, the Crete Street premises had been cleared and also the equipment was taken out, In accordance with an affidavit by Meuwese. The gear was moved to new premises rented by Stemmet in Mymoena Crescent during the Athlone industrial region, which housed several of Stemmet’s enterprises as well as a new “minstrel museum”, Based on a leaked investigative report commissioned because of the NLC. The investigator also photographed the equipment at the new premises.
Even so, the intended new museum web page, much like the outdated 1 in Wetton, was nicely clear of any of Cape City’s vacationer routes and readers couldn't entry it. There was no signage to the making indicating that it housed a museum.
Stemmet’s enterprises vacated the premises previously this yr right after he fell unwell.
The funding to ascertain a museum wasn't the one lottery grant the CTMCA acquired. In 2021, the association was allocated R100,000 and R1.five-million in Covid aid grants. The NLC originally refused to expose who experienced obtained Covid funding but at last relented below media and parliamentary strain.
Other lottery grants allotted to non-profit entities connected to Stemmet and his spouse and children and his associates include R1.4-million with the Cape Cultural Carnival and Functions 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 of your committee and his spouse, Zainonesa, is at this time a director.
And, the Peninsula and District Carnival Affiliation, which can be registered in the CTMCA’s previous Crete Street places of work, was allocated R190,000 in 2019/20, and an extra R635,000 in 2021/22 for the “craft, woodwork and layout programme”. Nonetheless, it seems that the 2021/22 payment was withheld after the NLC elevated questions on excellent stories linked to before funding acquired via the CTMCA.
GroundUp has confirmed the SIU is investigating the lottery funding gained by the CTMCA.
Also below investigation can be a R1-million payment via the CTMCA to MDU Consulting Engineers, which subsequently 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 being a conduit for an additional R3-m payment by Zibsimanzi, an organization during which the wife of previous NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba was a director, in direction of the purchase of the mansion. Zibsimanzi been given R4.8-million to phase a rural soccer Match in Limpopo right after Letwaba personally proposed the grant be paid to his wife’s company.
GroundUp sent issues to Stemmet by way of SMS but he experienced not replied by the time of publication.