Why Is It That Africa With Its Long Tradition Of Stories And Folklore Has So Few Lending Libraries?

The answer is simple really, infrastructure! The backbone of society, the middleclass educated person, who would use contribute to, and perhaps set up, lending libraries, has left to relocate out of Africa in the last ten to fifteen years, due to political uncertainty and upheaval.
It is called the brain drain, and they are now scattered all over the world, contributing to their new country's structure.
This is less widespread in  South Africa, which has had relative stability in the last ten years, however Zimbabwe has joined the list of countries whose infrastructure has been destroyed by a despot, a continuing
problem in African leaders, who rape their countries, and impoverish it's citizens.
When this happens, the last priority is lending libraries, the first priorities are usually, food shortages, death by aids, and a currency that has devalued.