The part about a number of Steem witnesses running new software with a new version number isn't a rumor, that's a fact. The secret repo isn't a rumor, that's a fact. The rumors are mostly just about what changes will be made with the new hardfork. It's a normal practice for exchanges to disable their wallets during a hardfork: you're going to find that all the exchanges are going to temporarily disable their Steem wallet for some amount of time before this hardfork happens.
The part about a number of Steem witnesses running new software with a new version number isn't a rumor, that's a fact. The secret repo isn't a rumor, that's a fact. The rumors are mostly just about what changes will be made with the new hardfork. It's a normal practice for exchanges to disable their wallets during a hardfork: you're going to find that all the exchanges are going to temporarily disable their Steem wallet for some amount of time before this hardfork happens.