Tanzanian President John Magufuli has fired nearly 10,000 civil servants accused of having falsified academic qualifications to get their jobs.

Speaking in the capital Dodoma, he described the 9,932 officials as "robbers and shoplifters" and ordered them to "immediately disappear from their work stations".

The officials had been implicated by an independent evaluation that sought to determine the validity of the academic papers of public employees.

They have been given 15 days to leave their jobs or risk jail terms of up to seven years.

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