International confusion over the legality of the transfer required Prime Minister John Molteno of the Cape Colony to reaffirm the annexation later, with the Ichaboe and Penguin Islands Act (1874).

British interference and the resulting breakdown in relations between the British Empire and the local Cape government obstructed the Commission's work long enough for Germany to declare South West Africa a German protectorate in 1884 as part of the continent-wide Scramble for Africa.

The offshore islands (and Walvis Bay) were excluded from German administration by their status as Cape constituencies.

The Penguin Islands remained under South African sovereignty, thus letting it retain an Exclusive Economic Zone off the Namibian coast.

After further negotiation and the signing of a treaty, at midnight on 28 February 1994, sovereignty over the islands, as well as Walvis Bay, was transferred to Namibia.