Richard “Pot” Stemmet, still left, and an investigator appointed because of the Nationwide Lotteries Fee to investigate the Lottery-funded minstrel museum: Photograph from an investigative report commissioned via the NLC
Richard “Pot” Stemmet is dealing with prosecution following devices paid for with cash with the Lottery was faraway from a Cape City making he rented.
Stemmet is to seem in court in January.
In line with a prosecutor the legal fees could incorporate fraud, removal of equipment that were attached via the Sheriff and interfering that has a City of Cape Town electrical energy meter.
The fees stem from the complaint laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who, in the civil court docket make a difference, is looking for to Get better in excess of R2.5-million in unpaid hire, curiosity, legal prices and harm to a rented developing in Crete Street, in the commercial space of Wetton in Cape City.
The building was Beforehand the headquarters from the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA) and it is the place a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the town’s hundreds of years-previous minstrel tradition was supposedly functioning.
Convicted prison Richard “Pot” Stemmet is facing prosecution for theft and fraud following equipment paid out for with Lottery money was faraway from a Cape Town building.
Stemmet was arrested via the Specialised Industrial Criminal offense Unit on sixteen October 2024 and informed to look from the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court docket on 21 November.
GroundUp attended court about the working day however the make any difference wasn't put on the court docket roll since the investigating officer didn't provide the docket to prosecutors. Stemmet has now been summonsed to seem in court docket in January.
The criminal expenses stem from a criticism laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, that's seeking to recover over R2.five-million in unpaid lease, interest, authorized charges and damage to a rented setting up in Crete Street, in the industrial area of Wetton in Cape City.
The developing was Earlier the headquarters from the Cape City Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA). This is when a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the city’s hundreds of years-old minstrel tradition was supposedly running.
The premises also housed a number of corporations owned by Stemmet, whom police have referred to as a prescription drugs higher flier. Amid the companies Stemmet ran from the premises have been a hat producing business plus a nightclub. Stemmet has actually been arrested several occasions for gun and drug-relevant offences and served time for armed theft while in the eighties.
According to an SMS despatched to Meuwese from the investigating officer, Stemmet has now been summonsed to look in courtroom on thirty January 2025.
While Stemmet is nevertheless being offered which has a cost sheet, achievable costs, involve fraud, removal of apparatus that had been hooked up by the Sheriff, and interfering that has a Town of Cape City electrical energy meter, As outlined by an electronic mail despatched to Meuwese by a senior prosecutor managing the matter.
A grant of almost R13-million to establish the minstrel museum was Element of greater than R64-million in Lottery funds allotted to the CTMCA in between 2003 and 2017, with the bulk of The cash - around R54.three-million - paid out inside the 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 monetary many years, In keeping with Nationwide Lotteries Commission (NLC) once-a-year stories.
Stemmet was appointed a director in the CTMCA in September 1996 but resigned in December 2016. His spouse Zainonesa and daughter Raziah continued หวย ลาว ย้อน หลัง as two of several administrators on the organisation. Stemmet was reappointed as being a director in 2021.
According to Meuwese, the making was leased to Stalph 164, a close corporation of which Stemmet was amongst the directors. The corporate was deregistered by the businesses and Intellectual Home Commission (CIPC) in March 2023 for non-compliance in distributing once-a-year reviews.
A new entity Along with the exact same title was subsequently registered as A non-public corporation, but with Stemmet no more a director, according to CIPC records. Alternatively, a relative, Ra’ees Stemmet, and Alfonzo van Niekerk were being appointed as administrators.
On the night of twelve April 2021 and into the next morning, the Crete Road premises were cleared and the equipment was taken off, In accordance 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 many of Stemmet’s companies and also a new “minstrel museum”, Based on a leaked investigative report commissioned with the NLC. The investigator also photographed the machines at the new premises.
Even so, the intended new museum web-site, such as old a single in Wetton, was properly from any of Cape Town’s tourist routes and readers couldn't accessibility it. There was no signage around the creating indicating that it housed a museum.
Stemmet’s organizations vacated the premises before this 12 months following he fell sick.
The funding to establish a museum was not the only real lottery grant that the CTMCA gained. In 2021, the Affiliation was allocated R100,000 and R1.5-million in Covid aid grants. The NLC initially refused to expose who experienced obtained Covid funding but at last relented beneath media and parliamentary force.
Other lottery grants allotted to non-profit entities linked to Stemmet and his household 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, according to NLC once-a-year experiences. Stemmet is usually a former director from the committee and his spouse, Zainonesa, is at the moment a director.
And, the Peninsula and District Carnival Association, which happens to be registered for the CTMCA’s former Crete Street places of work, was allocated R190,000 in 2019/20, and an extra R635,000 in 2021/22 for any “craft, woodwork and structure programme”. Even so, it seems that the 2021/22 payment was withheld once the NLC raised questions about fantastic experiences associated with earlier funding obtained because of the CTMCA.
GroundUp has verified the SIU is investigating the lottery funding gained via the CTMCA.
Also less than investigation is usually a R1-million payment via the CTMCA to MDU Consulting Engineers, which subsequently paid out R500,000 of this to legal professionals acting in the purchase of the R27-million mansion for former NLC Board chairperson Alfred Nevhutanda.
MDU also acted as being a conduit for an extra R3-m payment by Zibsimanzi, a firm through which the wife of former NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba was a director, in the direction of the acquisition on the mansion. Zibsimanzi received R4.eight-million to phase a rural soccer tournament in Limpopo just after Letwaba personally encouraged which the grant be paid to his wife’s corporation.
GroundUp despatched queries to Stemmet by means of SMS but he experienced not replied by the point of publication.