The African National Congress (ANC) is a follower of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and is no longer leading, EFF leader Julius Malema told supporters in Polokwane on Saturday.

Malema has been advocating for the expropriation of land without compensation since the formation of his EFF political party.

He said although their call was criticised by the ruling ANC, it has since become part of its agenda.

ANC leaders have also been calling for expropriation of land without compensation.

He told his party members that they should not be ashamed when their agenda is criticised by some as it will soon be an adopted mandate.

"The ANC is no longer leading. The EFF said land without [compensation] first as leaders, then the ANC followed [the call]," Malema said.

"When we said fees must fall, when we say free education in our lifetime they said we are unreasonable, they say we are burning universities because we don’t love education.

"Today they [ANC] are saying free education," said Malema.

Malema said the ANC's RDP plan was disingenuous as it creates a dependent syndrome in society.

'It's never too late'

He said if the ruling party had pushed for free education the dependency on RDP would be reduced, as majority would have been educated.

"They ANC of Nelson Mandela which lacked planning introduced RDP houses in 1994, instead of introducing free education.

"If they had given people free education in 1994, we would not have RDPs, we were not going to have social grants, we were not going to have unemployment," he argues.

He said it's never too late to have an educated nation, free of charge.

"We should have educated this nation long ago, free of charge, but is never late."

President Jacob Zuma announced free higher education for poor and working-class students last December.

Malema is adamant that like free education and land compensation, the ruling party will dance to the tune of nationalising banks and mines.

He said free education and land expropriation would be celebrated by the coming generation.

He said community members must not wait for the ruling party on expropriation of land instead they must invade and occupy unused land.

"If this land is being used for the purpose of agriculture particularly by our people, you don’t touch it.

"Let's take land, let's give our people land, they will follow because they [the ANC] are forever late," he adds.

ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa was not immediately available for comment despite several calls and messages made to him by News24 asking for comment on the matter.