Johannesburg - An urgent application by Sadtu's KwaZulu-Natal branch against its national office was struck off the roll on Wednesday for lack of urgency, the union said.
"The courts are not platforms to be abused to fight domestic differences in the union," the SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) said in a statement.
Some members of the Gaba Makathini branch had taken the union to the high court over the decision to disband the branch in 2013.
The urgent application sought to have Sadtu's decision declared invalid, that the executive committee be restored and that delegates elected at the union's upcoming national congress, which starts on Thursday, be removed.
"The union condemns the new tendency of abusing courts to resolve differences, without exhausting internal remedies available as per the constitution of Sadtu," it said.
The application was submitted on Tuesday.
The union said the timing was aimed at casting doubt on Sadtu before the congress.
"We remain concerned at how ordinary teachers, earning so little, can afford expensive advocates and take on the might of the union at courts."
It said no one was above its constitution. Those who felt unhappy and failed to abide by the rules were free to leave.
Sadtu's KwaZulu-Natal secretary Mbuyiseni Mathonsi could not immediately be reached for comment.
Last Tuesday, the Eastern Cape High Court in Bhisho ruled in favour of Sadtu's national executive committee against the union's Eastern Cape leadership.
The union's leadership had approached the court to contest decisions taken by the Sadtu national executive committee.
One of these, taken on 22 July, was that the union in the province be put under administration and its affairs managed by the national office jointly with the provincial office.
As part of the application being dismissed, Eastern Cape
provincial secretary Mncekeleli Ndongeni was ordered to pay costs.