His fine defensive play caught the attention of Kitwe giants who signed him soon after his return from England and Vitafoam claimed he had breached his contract with them.
An astute defender who perfected a tackle called the 'Chitemene system' after the slash and burn method of preparing fields in Northern Zambia, Simukonda won his first league title with Nkana going unbeaten the whole season and would go on to win four more in 1983, 1985, 1986 and 1988.
[2] The Nkana team were so devastated by the loss of a game they had been expected to win that they collected their loser's medals and headed straight to the dressing rooms.
Simukonda made his national team debut in October 1983 in an Olympic Games qualifier against Egypt in Lusaka which Zambia won 1–0 courtesy of a Peter Kaumba strike.
Simukonda was in the Zambian team that defeated Cameroon 4–1 in a World Cup qualifier in Lusaka in April 1985 but missed out on the second leg as Banda preferred a central defensive pairing of Jones Chilengi and John "Butcher" Mwanza, which stood firm in a 1–1 draw.
He was left out of Zambia's CAN 1986 squad but made a comeback in December 1986 when he captained the team to a 1–0 win over Angola to lift the MPLA trophy in Luanda.
He continued as captain when Samuel Ndhlovu took over as coach the following year and was in the Zambian team that pulled off a 2–1 aggregate win over Ghana to qualify to the Seoul Olympic Games.
He avenged Roan's defeat to Wanderers by beating the Mufulira side 3–0 in the following year's BP Top 8 Final and regained the Mosi Cup in 1996.
[6] Two months later, Simukonda moved to Konkola Blades in Chililabombwe, whose coach Benjamin Bwalya had died in February, and transformed the border-town outfit into the most exciting team in the league.
[7] Blades lost the final to Nkana, 6–1, and in 2002, Simukonda turned down the chance to coach Warriors where he would have had the opportunity of working with some of the biggest names in the league, to stay at Konkola Stadium, despite losing six key players including captain Kunda Mushota, John Munkonje, Aaron Kale and international Vincent Mangamu.
He won the league title the following year and was rewarded with a new three-year contract in February 2011 and another Coach of the Year Award,[12] but when ZESCO suffered some indifferent form, he was fired in July with ZESCO seventh on the Super Division table on 21 points, nine points behind leaders Red Arrows after 13 games played with two games in hand.
"[14] Nine days later, he was appointed coach of struggling Nakambala Leopards of Mazabuka but he discovered that the club did not match his ambition and he resigned after a year to join Nchanga Rangers on a three-year deal.