Public Service Minister Lindiwe Sisulu told DA MP David Maynier to take his "flea-infested body" and sit down after he accused her of wasting public resources.

Maynier raised the issue of Sisulu using luxury jets while she was defence minister during members' statements in the National Assembly on Tuesday.

"I can only imagine that the former minister of defence and military veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu, is desperately missing the ultra-luxury [of the] privately owned Gulfstream executive jets operated by the South African Air Force," he was quoted as saying.

Current Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula had acknowledged in a reply to a parliamentary question that Sisulu travelled in a luxury Gulfstream jet more than 200 times between Pretoria and Cape Town, at the cost of R200,000 a trip.

Maynier said: "The minister of defence claims there were 203 flights. But the former minister of defence claims there were 35 flights."

According to the report, Sisulu said Maynier's claims were "hogwash and balderdash" and instructed him to take his "flea-infested body and sit down".

National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu responded to complaints about Sisulu's remarks by saying he would study Hansard, the printed transcripts of parliamentary debates, and make a ruling later.