Sundiata was a tyrant who wanted to tax the people heavily and paid mercenaries to steal from merchants.

False.

Explanation:

Sundiata Keita, also called Sundiata, was a Western African monarch who founded Mali 's Western Sudanese Empire. He built the empire's territorial base and laid the foundations for its future economic prosperity and political unity. He was not only a conqueror who was able to rule over a vast empire of different tribalities and languages but also established the mechanisms for agriculture in Mali, and it is recorded that cotton and weaving were introduced in Mali at the same time.