Speaking at a press conference at the ANCYL's conference in Limpopo on Sunday, Malema said he would not take personal responsibility for his remarks regarding Zimbabwe last week.
He said he "can't understand" why he had been rebuked for his statements on Zimbabwe, as the views expressed was not his, but those of the youth league.
"We [the ANCYL] did not sneak out of the country [to visit Zimbabwe]," he said. "We had the blessings of President Zuma," Malema told South African Broadcasting Corporation news.
He said he was shocked about the way he had been rebuked by Zuma.
"Even [former] president Thabo Mbeki, when he differed with the youth league, and the youth league had taken firm radical positions against him, he never did that," he said.