There was some metaphorical monkey business in the National Assembly on Thursday.

It started when Freedom Front Plus MP Pieter Groenewald introduced a trio of the little primates into debate on the dismissal of Vusi Pikoli as national director of public prosecutions.

Accusing former president Thabo Mbeki of shielding police commissioner Jackie Selebi, Groenewald told MPs that when it came to Selebi, "the former president acted like the three little monkeys - I hear, I see and I say nothing!".

This allusion to the proverbial three wise monkeys -- often used to describe a person who wilfully fails to "see, hear or speak no evil" of a situation they know to be wrong -- did not sit well with members of the ruling African National Congress.

Raising a point of order, the party's deputy chief whip demanded to know: "Is it parliamentary for the honourable member to refer to the [former] head of state as a monkey?"

Deputy Speaker Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge said she would take the matter under consideration, and told Groenewald to continue.

A few seconds into his speech, however, the monkeys popped up again, this time in a reference to ANC members who favoured Pikoli's dismissal.

"Like the three little monkeys, you say nothing, you hear nothing and you do nothing!" he told them.

This was too much for Education Minister Naledi Pandor, who leapt up on a point of order, saying it made no difference whether or not Groenewald was using metaphor because referring to MPs as animals was derogatory and "absolutely unacceptable".

Asked by Madlala-Routledge to withdraw his monkey reference, Groenewald responded: "I didn't say they are monkeys, I said they act like monkeys. That is a metaphor in general, normal speech -- to say I hear nothing, I say nothing and I do nothing. I refuse to withdraw...."

Madlala-Routledge asked him once again to withdraw, warning she did not want to make a "harsh ruling" on the matter.

"Chairperson, I'm a man of my word. I said it, and I will not withdraw," Groenewald replied.

Madlala-Routledge ordered him to leave the House.

"I do it with honour, thank you," Groenewald said.