CAPE TOWN — Jacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa whose tenure was marred by scandals, told a high-profile corruption inquiry on Monday that he was the victim of a long-running smear campaign, and had been “vilified” and “alleged to be the king of corrupt people.”

“There has been a drive to remove me from the scene, a wish that I should disappear,” he said, in his first appearance before the commission, which is looking into accusations that he enabled the plundering and misuse of state resources.

Under Mr. Zuma’s leadership, the governing African National Congress became embroiled in what South Africans have come to know as “state capture” — corruption at the highest levels of government, for the benefit of wealthy private interests and A.N.C. officials.

In a long, meandering opening statement on Monday, Mr. Zuma, 77, invoked what he said were multiple conspiracies against him, and argued that the entire concept of state capture had been exaggerated in a campaign to oust him from power.