>>1134746It would be a mistake to think there are 0 trams in Africa. The capitals of Tunisia and Algeria have their modern trams. Kolkata, India also has their very old tram system which is definitely third world.
I suspect the reason is to do with cost. Firstly, the cost of maintaining old tramways became too much. Track maintenance and modernising rolling stock became too much, so the systems were abandoned. Then enter mass-produced buses which run on easy-to-get diesel rather than overhead. These are probably quite attractive to poorer nations because of the lower capital costs.