Johannesburg - Julius Malema has called for the renaming of all public institutions that were named after colonial and apartheid figures.
Addressing the EFF’s Youth Day rally at the Oscar Mpetha Stadium in the University of Limpopo on Tuesday, Malema labelled colonial and apartheid rulers as "idiots who murdered our people”.
He said public institutions should be renamed after freedom fighters.
The EFF leader likened the end of apartheid in 1994 to a bitter divorce, and questioned the logic for retaining the identity of the former abusive partner thereafter.
Malema criticised those who say colonial and apartheid names be preserved to retain history. "They're effectively saying you must never remove pictures of your ex (partner) because it's your history," said Malema.
"We don't want to remember the history of murderers," Malema said, to a thunderous applause from the crowd of mainly youths.
Malema said statues that symbolise oppression should be removed. "We have the EFF in Pretoria, but (Paul) Kruger's statue is still standing, we have the EFF in Cape Town, but (the) Louis Botha statue is still standing," he said.
Malema said these statues perpetuate white supremacy. "We can't celebrate people who killed Steve Biko, people who killed Chris Hani, people who killed Solomon Mahlangu," he said.
Malema lamented what he called the continued domination of the Afrikaans language in the public discourse.
He said there was nothing special about Afrikaans, pointing out that his party does not sing the Afrikaans part in the national anthem.
"Afrikaners are still arrogant and think they can impose themselves on us," he said.
Malema reiterated his party's support for land grabbing.
"If you don't want to give our land back, we will take our land," he said.
He urged his supporters not to be excited by food parcels and low-cost housing given by the government.
"This man who's leading us says we're lazy, he says we want freebies. We must prove to them that we work very hard," said Malema.
This was in reference to President Jacob Zuma's complaint in March at the SA Local Government Association summit that some South Africans have become lazy after the end of apartheid.
Malema vowed to wrest out the ANC as the ruling party in the Polokwane municipality in next year's local government elections.
He gloated over the fact that the EFF was the official opposition in the Limpopo legislature.
He said the ANC in the province was defunct.
"If you can ask the person next you, who the ANC chairman in this province is, they will not know," said Malema.
The Star