Although this claim is backed by many eyewitnesses, among them Sam Nujoma, Namibia's founding president who references the incident in his autobiography "Where Others Wavered", it has not been unchallenged. Hannes Smith caused a controversy in 2003, calling it a "gross lie".  3,000-4,000 residents fled the area and refused to return, fearing police reprisals. The Old Location Uprising, as it came to be known, was a rallying cry for Namibian independence until the country received independence in March 1990, 31 years later. It was one of the events leading to the foundation of SWAPO by forcing community leaders from the Ovamboland People's Organization into exile, including Sam Nujoma. It is also probably one of the main reasons for SWAPO to put less effort into petitioning and resistance, and to turn the independence struggle into an armed conflict. The Old Location uprising is the reason for the declaration of December 10, Human Rights Day, as a Namibian national holiday. The transfer to the Katutura suburb took several years. In 1962, approximately 7,000 people had been moved, joining the 2,000 people of Ovambo descent that already lived there. In 1968, the Old Location was officially closed and whites began to settle.