Richard “Pot” Stemmet, left, and an investigator appointed with the Nationwide Lotteries Commission to research the Lottery-funded minstrel museum: Image from an investigative report commissioned by the NLC

Richard “Pot” Stemmet is struggling with prosecution immediately after gear paid out for with resources in the Lottery was removed from a Cape Town setting up he rented.
Stemmet is to look in court docket in January.
Based on a prosecutor the felony prices could include fraud, removing of equipment that were attached from the Sheriff and interfering with a Metropolis of Cape Town energy meter.
The costs stem from a grievance laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, who, inside a civil court docket issue, is searching for to Get better above R2.5-million in unpaid lease, desire, legal fees and harm to a rented setting up in Crete Road, in the commercial place of Wetton in Cape City.
The making was Earlier the headquarters with the Cape City Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA) and it is the place a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating town’s generations-aged minstrel society was supposedly running.
Convicted legal Richard “Pot” Stemmet is dealing with prosecution for theft and fraud right after gear compensated for with Lottery cash was removed from a Cape Town creating.

Stemmet was arrested through the Specialised Professional Criminal offense Unit on sixteen Oct 2024 and advised to appear from the Wynberg Justice of the peace’s Court on 21 November.

GroundUp attended courtroom around the working day nevertheless the make any difference was not placed on the courtroom roll as the investigating officer didn't deliver the docket to prosecutors. Stemmet has now been summonsed to appear in courtroom in January.

The legal fees stem from the grievance laid by Stemmet’s landlord, Sean Meuwese, that is trying to find to Recuperate above R2.5-million in unpaid rent, curiosity, legal fees and damage to a rented creating in Crete Road, in the economic area of Wetton in Cape City.

The making was Beforehand the headquarters of the Cape City Minstrel Carnival Association (CTMCA). This is when a non-existent, Lottery-funded museum celebrating the town’s centuries-aged minstrel tradition was supposedly operating.

The premises also housed a number of companies owned by Stemmet, whom law enforcement have referred to as a medication significant flier. Amongst the companies Stemmet ran from the premises have been a hat production enterprise as well as a nightclub. Stemmet has been arrested many instances for gun and drug-linked offences and served time for armed theft during the eighties.

As outlined by an SMS sent to Meuwese through the investigating officer, Stemmet has now been summonsed to seem in court docket on 30 January 2025.

While Stemmet is yet to become introduced by using a charge sheet, possible prices, contain fraud, removal of apparatus that were hooked up because of the Sheriff, and interfering using a Town of Cape City electrical energy meter, In accordance with an email despatched to Meuwese by a senior prosecutor handling the subject.

A grant of just about R13-million to determine the minstrel museum was Element of much more than R64-million in Lottery resources allocated for the CTMCA among 2003 and 2017, with the majority of the money - more than R54.three-million - paid out inside the 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 fiscal several years, As outlined by National Lotteries Fee (NLC) once-a-year experiences.

Stemmet was appointed a director with the CTMCA in September 1996 but resigned in December 2016. His wife Zainonesa and daughter Raziah ongoing หวย ลาว ล่าสุด as two of several directors of the organisation. Stemmet was reappointed to be a director in 2021.

In keeping with Meuwese, the making was leased to Stalph 164, a close Company of which Stemmet was among the administrators. The organization was deregistered by the Companies and Intellectual Residence Fee (CIPC) in March 2023 for non-compliance in submitting yearly experiences.

A brand new entity Along with the same name was subsequently registered as a private organization, but with Stemmet no more a director, according to CIPC documents. Rather, a family member, Ra’ees Stemmet, and Alfonzo van Niekerk were appointed as administrators.

Over the night of 12 April 2021 and into the following morning, the Crete Highway premises were cleared as well as the machinery was taken off, As outlined by an affidavit by Meuwese. The machines was moved to new premises rented by Stemmet in Mymoena Crescent while in the Athlone industrial region, which housed quite a few of Stemmet’s firms and a new “minstrel museum”, In line with a leaked investigative report commissioned by the NLC. The investigator also photographed the tools at the new premises.

However, the intended new museum site, such as the previous a person in Wetton, was effectively clear of any of Cape Town’s vacationer routes and guests could not access it. There was no signage on the building indicating that it housed a museum.

Stemmet’s businesses vacated the premises before this calendar year immediately after he fell sick.

The funding to establish a museum wasn't the sole lottery grant which the CTMCA obtained. In 2021, the Affiliation was allocated R100,000 and R1.five-million in Covid relief grants. The NLC to begin with refused to reveal who had been given Covid funding but eventually relented underneath media and parliamentary pressure.

Other lottery grants allotted to non-earnings entities linked to Stemmet and his family and his associates include R1.four-million for the Cape Cultural Carnival and Activities Committee in 2019/20, and an additional R500,000 in 2021/22, In keeping with NLC once-a-year experiences. Stemmet is a previous director with the committee and his wife, Zainonesa, is presently a director.

And, the Peninsula and District Carnival Association, which is registered within the CTMCA’s former Crete Road places of work, was allocated R190,000 in 2019/twenty, and an additional R635,000 in 2021/22 for any “craft, woodwork and style programme”. However, it seems that the 2021/22 payment was withheld after the NLC raised questions on fantastic reports relevant to before funding been given from the CTMCA.

GroundUp has confirmed that the SIU is investigating the lottery funding obtained through the CTMCA.

Also underneath investigation is usually a R1-million payment from the CTMCA to MDU Consulting Engineers, which consequently paid 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 corporation where the wife of previous NLC COO Phillemon Letwaba was a director, in the direction of the acquisition in the mansion. Zibsimanzi received R4.8-million to phase a rural soccer tournament in Limpopo just after Letwaba personally suggested that the grant be compensated to his wife’s business.

GroundUp despatched inquiries to Stemmet via SMS but he had not replied by the point of publication.