ANCYL president Julius Malema has apologised for referring to people of Indian origin as "makula" as he was not aware that the word is derogatory when he used it during his address.

Malema, in his address to residents of Thembelihle on Wednesday, said black children should be allowed to attend schools with children of "makula".

"It was not my aim to hurt the Indian people. Where I grew up in Limpopo and, I think in other areas, the word is used to refer to Indians and nobody has ever said it is offensive," he said.

"If you were listening to things I was saying, you will be able to tell that I did not intend to harm Indians.

"But I am sorry that some people might have been hurt."

He said he was speaking to residents and emphasising the need to integrate different racial groups.

ANCYL spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said the league would stop using the word "makula" as it understands and appreciates that some members of society could have received the message differently.

"The emphasis was about integrated human settlement and co-existence of Indian and African communities. The ANCYL will therefore not use the word 'makula' to refer to South Africans of Indian origin because we appreciate and acknowledge that it is not an appropriate word."

ANC spokesperson Keith Khoza said the organisation had spoken to Malema and he had apologised and indicated that it was not meant to be offensive.

"The ANC would also like to apologise to people who might have been offended. A lot of people still use that word without realising that it is offensive," Khoza said.

But Malema is not out of the woods yet. Yesterday AfriForum announced that it was to lay a criminal charge against him for reportedly encouraging people to take land without permission.

AfriForum said its action was prompted by a report in Beeld newspaper that quoted Malema as saying: "If they don't want to give the land over to us, we must take it without their permission."

Malema reportedly made the remark during his Wednesday visit to Thembelihle

"According to a legal opinion ... this behaviour of Malema in itself constitutes the criminal offence of incitement to sedition, for which he can be criminally prosecuted," AfriForum said in a statement yesterday.

Shivambu said AfriForum was an organisation of grandchildren of "murderers who took our land forcefully without showing any mercy for African people.

"Each time we mention land they think we will do what they did to our people," he said.