SHOPRITE, one of the largest retail chains in southern Africa, will invest an initial $25-million in Zimbabwe this year as part of a regional expansion plan that will see the supermarket giant using this country as a base to supply goods to other African countries, Shoprite official Toby Wieser said this week. Wieser said the firm has lodged an application with the Zimbabwe Investment Centre in terms of which its initial investment will be $25 million — with plans to increase that amount. He said Shoprite will expand its operations into the rest of the country once it had firmly established itself in Zimbabwe’s main cities.