Witness inaction at that time doesn't mean anything except that they were lazy and inert when they shouldn't have been so.
Personally, I foolishly wanted to believe that Ned had at least some interest in ensuring the success of Steem. He co-founded the thing after all. I think many people had a similar opinion.
When Ned showed that we were indeed fools for trusting him, and that our hope was useless, it was clear it was time to take action. I agree this should have been done long ago, but it was done today.
If it didn't happen today, the same thing would be said in the future about it should of having been done sooner or that witnesses were just lazy.