The study sought to comparatively assess community social services provision in two rural communities (communal and resettlement) in Zimbabwe, the specific study objectives being: to ascertain accessibility to selected services by residents in the study areas; to assess the quality of the accessed services, and; to evaluate the development priority of the various services in the study communities. The mixed methods design was employed in gathering and analysing primary data, involving a household questionnaire, interviews and group discussions. The results of the study indicated poor accessibility to community services by residents in both study sites, poor quality of the accessed services, and a glaring need for the improvement of the services. Comparatively, while services accessibility was better in the communal area, the quality of such services seemed to be slightly better in the resettlement area. The study results highlight a continuing lag in service delivery in the rural areas of Zimbabwe compared to urban areas (which can be traced back to the colonial era), in addition to highlighting a persistent failure of post-independence rural development efforts in the country compounded by two decades of economic decline since the turn of the century. With a new political and socio-economic dispensation on the horizon in Zimbabwe, a redirection of efforts towards the development of the country’s rural areas is clearly a top priority.