Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa will in "one or two days" respond to the allegations of his extramarital affairs.
Before Ramaphosa could answer questions in Parliament on Wednesday, he stood up, clearly uneasy in his demeanor, and said he would do something "unprecedented".
"I thought I should do something unprecedented and start of by addressing a matter that has embroiled me, matters that affect my personal life," he said.
"And I thought, because I work with all of you across all party lines, in many ways all of you are my colleagues. I will be addressing this matter in a day or two. I do need to take responsibility and be accountable."
Ramaphosa was set to answer questions on issues surrounding President Jacob Zuma's nine-point economic turnaround plan, unemployment and gender-based violence.
Sunday Independent at the weekend reported that a trove of leaked emails from Ramaphosa's personal accounts allegedly showed that he had had extramarital affairs with more than one woman, some of whom are students.
The deputy president described the leaked emails as part of a smear campaign, admitting he had an affair with his doctor almost a decade ago and had resolved this with his wife.