Former ANCYL president Julius Malema says his expulsion from the ANC will be automatically overturned when President Jacob Zuma is voted out of office in December, it was reported on Tuesday.

Malema, who was being interviewed on the BBC's World Service in London on Monday evening, said his expulsion was being contested by structures of the African National Congress, Independent Online reported.

He said the ANC's elective conference in Mangaung in December would be used to overturn it.

"When we remove President [Jacob] Zuma in December, it will be an automatic overturning of that decision," he was quoted as saying.

Malema said people were still committed to him even though he had been expelled by the ANC, because he was "leading a revolution in South Africa for economic emancipation".

This was "close to the hearts of the people" of both South Africa and Africa, according to the report.

He said his relationship with ANC veteran Winnie Madikizela-Mandela worried the ANC.

"I am still very close to her, which worries some in the ANC who thought that by expelling us they would succeed in isolating us, and they have not succeeded."

According to the report, Malema said former president Nelson Mandela would be "very happy" with him as, while still young, Mandela had changed an ANC "of gentlemen" into a "fighting force".