Did Latin not have a foothold in North Africa? I don't know many North Africa Romans but the ones I do know of (St. Augustine, Donatus) wrote in Latin. Was fluency in Latin any less common there by Late Antiquity than it was in what became France? Or at least common as in what became England or Romania?

Quick clarification: what time period do you mean? The prevalence of Latin varies depending on if you refer to pre-republic, republic, and empire.