If the main question of this novel is apartheid, then Popi is the novel's answer to this question. Popi's beauty and her very existence are proof that black people and white people are compatible by nature. They are literally compatible physically, and Popi is lovely. She's adorable, with half her mother's features and half her father's features. Therefore, apartheid is unfounded, because if Popi can exist, than racism is illogical and wrong.
Another reason this comes across clearly in the book is because Niki doesn't really notice it. She's not a vocal, angry, outspoken person, but her son is. When Viliki starts to become more aware of their station in life, of apartheid, and of racial prejudice, he becomes more openly political, but Niki never thought to become political. She just accepted her station in life and made the best of her situation—so Viliki is confident that he is right. She is a good person and worthy of respect, Viliki knows.
To say the problem ends with the end of segregation and apartheid would be sadly wrong. Even in the novel, the family struggles to push through the end of that painful era into an uncertain future. They don't have any reassurance that things will work out for them, but they do have a family, and they're not alone, because the entire nation is also struggling alongside them.
