The 31-year-old made the demand late Friday at the press club in Pretoria after receiving its Newsmaker of the Year 2011 award.

Using more conciliatory language than in the past, Malema insisted he had nothing against the white minority, which he has often openly attacked.

“You must never buy the story that we are anti-white and we want whites to be driven into the sea. This is your home, your country and it belongs to all of us,” he declared.

“I would die in defence of the white minority – they must enjoy the same rights as Africans. But when we say we must share, it doesn’t mean we are fighting – we are actually protecting you,” he said.

He insisted that he would never change his mind over the “expropriation of land without compensation”, saying the African National Congress should adopt the principle.

“This land was robbed, stolen. A black genocide was committed against those who owned the land … I will never agree with the rewarding of those who stole our land,” he emphasised.

Malema is appealing against his expulsion this month by the ANC’s disciplinary committee, which found him guilty last year of bringing the party into disrepute and sowing divisions with negative comments on President Jacob Zuma.