Six key quotes from Julius Malema's Youth Day speech: 'We will defeat them with our unity'

EFF supporters have praised party leader Julius Malema on his Youth Day speech, which was delivered at the University of Fort Hare on June 16 to commemorate the Soweto Uprisings of 1976.

Malema took to the stage and rallied for the “decolonisation” of the education system in the country.

Malema said learners in South Africa needed to be taught from the African perspective. Here are six key quotes from his speech:

Decolonising education

"This is where battles are fought to decolonise education. Decolonising education means we ought to liberate the syllabus, the content must liberate the minds of the young black people."

The image of coloniser

"The youth of 1976, when they fought against Afrikaans, knew that the coloniser wanted to make them into the coloniser's image. The image of coloniser is to want to bleach your skin, straighten your hair and to speak English better than the coloniser."

Embracing as Africans

"To decolonise education is to decolonise our society and thereby embracing who we are as Africans."

Unity and consciousness

"We may not defeat them with stones, we may not have the guns to defeat them, but we will defeat them with our unity and with our consciousness. Do not undermine the struggle of liberating the mind."

Liberated minds

"Young people are dying of Aids, young people are unemployed, young people have no access to education, young people are exploited and yet we continue to re-elect the same officials into power. It is because our minds are not liberated."

Don't get tired

"We must sweat for this freedom. You will get tired but when you feel tired, remember the suffering of the black people. There are no clinics in the villages, no proper toilets, when you feel tired think on those things."